A MAN caught “up to no good” at dead of night in a Bradford street during the Covid-19 pandemic has been jailed for six months.

John Daly spat on a police officer through his cell door after he was apprehended in dark clothing and gloves “tooled up” with a locking wheel nut with a screwdriver attached.

Daly, 23, had also been arrested in Leeds for being out and about in contravention of the coronavirus lock down, Bradford Crown Court heard on Friday.

When asked by Judge Jonathan Rose what his client was up to, solicitor advocate, Saf Salam, said he was looking for things to steal and sell on.

“Somebody was going to be a victim, somebody who is already dealing with lockdown when you refused to do so,” the judge told Daly.

Daly, of Howarth Crescent, Swain House, Bradford, pleaded guilty at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates’ Court to going equipped for theft, assaulting a police officer as an emergency worker and criminal damage to a police cell.

The court heard he was caught in Fourlands Gardens, Idle, Bradford, in the early hours of April 30.

He was with another man who ran off.

When Daly was apprehended he told officers: “I won’t lie to you, I was up to no good.”

After he was placed in a cell at the police station, he spat at an officer, the spittle landing on his shoulder.

The officer was left disgusted, particularly as the assault was during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Daly went on to flood his cell by stuffing a blanket into the toilet, the court heard.

His previous convictions included offences of possession of Class B drugs with intent, possession of a prohibited weapon and theft.

In October, 2016, he was locked up for five years in a young offender institution for possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.

He had been recalled on licence until May next year and was sentenced on a video link to Leeds Prison.

Mr Salam said Daly was immediately frank with the police, admitting he was “up to no good.”

There was nothing sinister about his choice of outfit.

“He ordinarily wears dark clothing, track suits and the like,” Mr Salam said.

The court heard that any prison sentence imposed on Daly could only run concurrently with the period he had been recalled on licence, so unless he was jailed for at least two years, which the law didn’t allow, he would serve nothing extra behind bars for the offences.

Judge Rose said Daly was out “tooled up” in breach of the lock down restrictions.

He had then committed the “appalling and disgusting” offence of spitting on a police officer, risking the coronavirus being transmitted, the judge added.

lThe national chair of the Police Federation previously welcomed news that offenders found guilty of weaponising coronavirus by spitting at police officers are being jailed.

John Apter said: “During this difficult period seeing more offenders being jailed for this disgusting and dangerous act is very welcome. Sadly, being spat at by vile individuals is nothing new for police officers."