A GANG of four Bradford men who acted like a “pack of animals” and left a defenceless victim with permanent scarring to his face have been locked up.

Anis Khan and his cousin, Mohammed Ihsan, were on Neal Street near the city centre on December 6 last year when they were set upon by the group – Avais Idress, 20, Shahzabe Iqbal, 19, Fehzan Khan, 19, and Haroon Siddique, 19.

Prosecutor Anthony Moore told Bradford Crown Court that all four defendants were known to the two victims, with the men having gone to school and college together.

He said that Idress approached Mr Ihsan to shake his hand, but instead punched him in the face.

This was said to have been the “trigger point” for the group to then attack Mr Khan, who was kicked and hit with an iron bar.

He suffered injuries to his face which needed to be stitched and glued.

Idress, of Grantham Terrace, Iqbal, of Kingswood Street, Khan, of Ryan Street, and Siddique, of Southmere Drive, all pleaded guilty to a charge of affray.

Mr Moore said of their basis of plea: “It is accepted that in the course of this joint-enterprise offence, a bar was produced and used.”

Nadim Bashir, mitigating for Idress, said there was some “background” between his client’s family and some relatives of Mr Khan.

He said: “It is no justification for what he did. I accept he threw the first punch that started the trouble.”

Mr Bashir added that Idress, who was studying an undergraduate degree in law, acknowledged he had thrown away his future in that profession, but described him as an “industrious” young man who had shown genuine remorse.

Emma Downing, for Iqbal, said her client had accepted his role in the “mindless violence,” for which he was “thoroughly ashamed and disappointed in himself”. She said he had been suspended from his college course upon being arrested and charged, but had since started working part-time and re-started his studies in Leeds.

Mohammed Nawaz, for Khan, said his client accepted his “absolutely disgraceful behaviour,” which had also seen him expelled from college, but argued that he had acted out of character.

Lorraine Harris, mitigating for Saddique, described the incident as a “horrific example of peer pressure and misplaced loyalties”. She said her client had lost his good reputation, but was now back in education and part-time work away from Bradford.

All four defendants, none of whom had any previous convictions, denied carrying or using the iron bar at any stage of the attack.

Judge Jonathan Rose said while the men had all come from good and supportive families, they had “chosen to abandon that path in favour of violence”.

He said: “This was a scene of dreadful violence, a mob attack on defenceless people.

“Decent members of the public do not walk about with iron bars, or with any weapons at all.

“You had equipped yourself for violence. This was in no way spontaneous.

“What happened was like a pack of animals. You attacked two wholly innocent men, unprovoked.

“When it was over, his life was changed. The consequence is that this man is scarred for life because of what you did. None of you will carry the scar that he carries.”

Despite reports from the probation service that all four men were at low risk of future offending, Judge Rose said there was no alternative to immediate custody, as his sentence had to indicate the fact that “the citizens of Bradford do not wish to witness violence on their streets”.

Idress, Iqbal, and Siddique were ordered to serve 14 months in a young offenders institution, with Khan locked up for 12 months.