Two men who tailgated a Bradford father and attacked him in a “disgraceful” road rage incident have been spared immediate jail sentences.

The Honorary Recorder of Bradford, Judge Stephen Gullick, was told if he imprisoned Sean James, his six-year-old son would have both parents behind bars.

James, 37, and Richard Ruby, 27, were convicted last month of assaulting Dean Lambert.

James was also found guilty of damaging Mr Lambert’s Volkswagen Polo car during the incident last February.

Judge Gullick told the pair it was “a classic road rage incident”.

He said they were travelling in a recovery truck on Harrogate Road, Eccleshill, Bradford, when Mr Lambert cut them up.

Judge Gullick branded what followed “an absolute disgrace”.

Ruby, who was driving the former AA truck, towing another vehicle, tailgated Mr Lambert, who turned right towards Eccleshill.

The men continued to follow Mr Lambert, who pulled up at a junction with Norman Lane.

James, Ruby’s boss, got out of the truck and smashed Mr Lambert’s rear window with a hammer.

Mr Lambert, who jumped on the running board to try to stop the pair driving off, was punched by Ruby and hit by James with the hammer.

Judge Gullick said a van driver blocked the truck’s path and then called the police as he followed the men. The judge said that otherwise, James and Ruby, who were heading for Manchester, would have got off “scot free”.

During the trial at Bradford Crown Court, Mr Lambert told the jury he heard a loud bang as the glass came through. His young son was screaming as James ran off laughing.

Mr Lambert said he climbed on to the truck steps and was attacked by both men as he clung on. James, of Rugely, Staffordshire, and Ruby, of Willenhall, West Midlands, were told they deserved to go to jail.

But Judge Gullick heard that the mother of James’s young son had been jailed last year and the boy faced the prospect of both parents behind bars. He would have to live with his grandparents in Devon if his father was locked up.

The judge told Ruby, who had no previous convictions, he had escaped prison “on the coat tails” of James’s mitigation. James was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment suspended for two years with 200 hours unpaid work. Ruby was given a six-month jail term, suspended for two years, also with 200 hours unpaid work.

e-mail: jenny.loweth@telegraphandargus.co.uk