THREE men have been jailed for a total of six and a half years for their part in a shooting incident on a residential street in Bradford.

Bradford Crown Court heard how three men in balaclavas had fired a gun at the home of victim Owen Parker, before speeding off in a Fiat Punto and abandoning the vehicle nearly Bierley Woods.

Liam Rayner and Frankie Coleman, who are already serving lengthy prison sentences for supplying Class A drugs, as well as Brodie Nolan, were convicted of conspiracy to possess an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Rayner, 28, was jailed for a further three years, Coleman, 22, for a further two years, and Nolan, also 22, for 18 months.

A fourth man, Mitchel Aston, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, after lying to police about his black Punto being stolen, despite having handed it over to Coleman and Nolan.

He received a 15-month suspended sentence and was ordered to carry out unpaid work.

Recorder Ben Nolan QC said in sentencing: "The shooting of a firearm, albeit an imitation firearm, in public at night in the presence of nearby residents is a serious incident in these troubled times of violence and terrorism."

Prosecutor Kirsten Mercer told the court that mobile phone and CCTV evidence showed that Rayner, 28, of Fairfax Crescent, Bierley, was the organiser and was in frequent telephone contact with Coleman before and after the incident on May 27, 2016.

Nolan was recruited in the weeks prior and it was he and Coleman, along with a third man, who has not been identified, that carried out the firearms incident, she added.

She described how the men had pulled up outside Mr Parker's home at 9.20pm. He shouted at them to back off as he was on his own with his children, but they fired the gun, before speeding off in a car. He was not injured in the attack.

Police later found a spent ammunition casing outside the house and found the abandoned vehicle nearby. The gun had not been recovered, it emerged.

Gloves, a ripped balaclava, clothing and keys to the Punto were found in Bierley Woods by police, with DNA evidence linking Coleman, of Vestry Street, Bowling, to the crime.

As first Coleman, then Nolan, of King Street, Drighlington, were arrested and mobile phones were seized, and Rayner's part in incident then became clear, the court was told.

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All three initially denied conspiracy to possess an imitation firearm, but Coleman and Nolan pleaded guilty on the day of trial. Rayner was subsequently found guilty.

Aston, 22, of Dawson Street, Bierley, was "duped" into handing over his car, and was "under pressure" due to debts, the court was told. He pleaded guilty.

In mitigation, the defendants' barristers told how the three men that were jailed had young families, and that Coleman and Rayner had already been putting their time in prison from drugs offences to good use.

It had been out of character for Nolan, who had received a suspended sentence for dangerous driving last year, the court heard.

Aston had stopped taking drugs and reduced his alcohol intake, in an effort to turn his life around, his barrister said.