The greedy' partners in a struggling Bradford restaurant put customers' lives at risk by packing them into the building with insufficient exits.

Hundreds of people were often packed into the building which was only allowed to have 60 at a time, including staff.

And the only way out of the Panshee restaurant, in Tickhill Street, off Leeds Road, if a fire had broken out was through the front door.

Yesterday, a judge at Bradford Crown Court told the owners their greed had put lives at risk and only good fortune had prevented a tragedy.

And a fire officer said after the case there would have been a serious loss of life if a fire had broken out in the restaurant.

The partners, Mahir Ali, of Chelmsford Road, and Khosru Miah, of Bardsey Crescent, both Barkerend, had pleaded guilty at magistrates court to five charges of contravening a prohibition notice and were committed to crown court for sentence.

The Honorary Recorder of Bradford, Judge Stephen Gullick, sentenced both men to six months' imprisonment suspended for two years and fined them £1,000 on each charge. They were also ordered to pay £1,975 costs each.

The court heard that fire safety officers had issued prohibition notices to protect the public after an inspection revealed the only means of escape if there was a fire was the main entrance.

But the notices, restricting the capacity of the premises to 60 people, including staff, were flagrantly breached.

During a number of further inspections there were up to 320 customers attending functions at the restaurant, which was within sight of Bradford fire station.

Judge Gullick told Ali, 35, and Miah, 34: "These are extremely serious offences. You clearly were prepared, for financial gain, to potentially put the lives of your customers at considerable risk.

"You were motivated simply by financial greed. What you wanted to do was make sure your business made money. You decided to pursue your quest to make it a successful restaurant, despite the obvious risk involved. It is fortunate that no fatalities were occasioned, or no injury done."

After the case, Mick Smith, of West Yorkshire Fire Service, which brought the prosecution, said: "If a fire had occurred in or around the premises, with the number of people attending functions there would have been serious loss of life."

He added: "They had a blatant disregard for the safety of the general public."

Prosecutor Toni Wharton told the court the premises was inspected last October and found to have insufficient means of escape in case of a fire. A prohibition notice was served on Ali, which was explained to him.

Mrs Wharton said that less than three weeks later a further inspection was ordered, after it was noticed the streets around the restaurant were extremely busy with people attending it, and a head count revealed 280 people on the premises.

Two weeks after that, 130 people were found on the premises; more than 270 were present on November 25; and on Christmas Day 240 people were seated and a number of adults and children were seen walking around.

Three further visits in January and February found the numbers of people on the premises were at least double what they should have been, with 320 there on the last occasion.

Since then the fire service had been granted a civil injunction and there had been no further offences.

Nicholas Askins, for Ali, said the premises was formerly a church and not ideal for public safety.

The restaurant had been trading at a loss and they had already accepted a number of large bookings and felt it was a matter of honour to keep them.

Ali had put up a notice telling staff not to take large bookings and four staff members had undergone training with the fire service.

Planning permission was being sought for a rear exit and the restaurant would not reopen until it was ready.

Sophie Drake, for Miah, said both defendants were actively seeking to address the problem.

Miah was a man of previous good character who felt he had brought shame on his family.

Mr Smith said the restaurant was opposite the fire station. "It was quite apparent when there was a function, there were hundreds of people outside the premises.

"We weren't deliberately targeting them, it was just blatantly obvious."