Bradford: 'Professional' burglars jailed for armed attack

Dale Poppleton, 42, and Ali Abbas, 18, were both jailed at Bradford Crown Court

A pair of "professional" burglars who were involved in a violent attack at a home in Bradford have been jailed.

Bradford Crown Court heard Dale Poppleton, 42, and Ali Abbas, 18, were part of an organised crime gang targeting houses and stealing cars across the north of England.

On 11 January, Poppleton smashed the door of a house and Abbas narrowly missed a woman with a shotgun blast.

Poppleton was jailed for more than eight years, with Abbas given four.

The pair turned up at the home on Christopher Court in the early hours of the morning, the hearing heard, with a video doorbell capturing Poppleton smashing the door.

The court heard Abbas, of St Leonard's Road, Bradford, then pointed and fired the shotgun at a window, narrowly missing a woman during the "targeted" attack.

The court heard the defendants stayed at a local hotel that night, with staff noticing Poppleton's distinctive missing ear.

Cameras at the hotel caught Poppleton, of Charnwood Road, Bradford, declaring on a phone call: "Ali nearly shot [the woman] in the face, the muppet."

A doorbell video recorder captured Dale Poppleton smashing a door with a sledgehammer, with Ali Abbas firing a shotgun at a window

Both admitted a range of offences connected to the shotgun attack, house burglaries and car thefts.

Sentencing the pair, Judge Jonathan Rose told them their actions were "professional and determined".

"Between December 2022 and February 2023, you were engaged together and with others in serious organised criminal activity," he said.

"It was motivated by greed, and in the case of the most serious offence, by some other personal motivation which may have been revenge."

Speaking after sentencing, West Yorkshire Police said "it was only by sheer luck that no-one was injured or seriously hurt" during the shooting.

Poppleton was sentenced to eight years and six months in jail.

Abbas was handed a term of four years and two months to be served at a young offenders' institution.