A “WICKED” man held responsible for organising a gang shooting on a quiet Bradford cul-de-sac has been jailed for 18 years.

Tariq Adalat, 36, was said to have been the ringleader in the violent clash between two groups of men that erupted in Hollybank Gardens, Great Horton, on October 3, 2016.

Police described the confrontation as a “shockingly violent incident”, which left one man left beaten “within an inch of his life” after firing a shotgun at a car.

In a long-running trial at Bradford Crown Court that ended in June last year, five men were sentenced for a total of 57 years for their role in the violence, said to have arisen from some form of family dispute.

Ajaz Saddiq, 38, of Hollybank Gardens, Great Horton, Shahid Saddiq, 36, of Waverley Road, Great Horton, and Nazim Hussain, 39, of Fairbank Road, Girlington, were found guilty of unlawfully and maliciously wounding Mohammed Waris with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm, with the former jailed for 12 years and the latter both given 11-year sentences.

Waris, 22, of Northside Terrace, Lidget Green, and Dhaanish Akmal, 19, of Aberdeen Terrace, Lidget Green, were found guilty of conspiracy to possess a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life, and conspiracy to handle stolen goods, receiving sentences of 13 and ten years respectively.

Adalat was found guilty of conspiracy to handle stolen goods, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the firearms allegation.

He was found guilty after a re-trial that ended yesterday.

The original trial heard that on the evening of October 3, Adalat, Waris, and Akmal travelled to Ajaz Saddiq’s home on Hollybank Gardens in a stolen VW Polo.

While on the street, the vehicle was “rammed” in a “pincer movement” by two Audis, one containing Ajaz Saddiq and his young son, and the other containing Shahid Saddiq and Hussain. Waris fired a shotgun at Ajaz Saddiq’s car, causing damage to the vehicle.

The court was told that before Waris could reload the gun, he was dragged out of the car and attacked.

He spent a month in hospital as a result of his injuries, which included a bleed on the brain and multiple fractures to his face.

Prosecutor David Brooke said that Adalat, Waris and Akmal had gone to Ajaz Saddiq’s home in a manner designed to “endanger his life”.

Judge Jonathan Rose said yesterday that Adalat had been the driver of the stolen car, and that he had armed his “gang” with a “potentially deadly weapon”, a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun. The court heard that as Waris was attacked, Adalat ran away from the scene before returning in a Range Rover in a failed bid to help his accomplice.

Mr Brooke told the court yesterday that Adalat had a number of previous convictions, including an 11-year prison sentence imposed in 2003 for a robbery involving the possession of a firearm.

Mark Tomassi, defending, said there was no clear evidence in this case of his client sourcing the firearm and being in the “metaphorical driving seat”.

Referring to the fact that the previous defendants in the case had not received extended sentences based on a finding of dangerousness, he said: “You have to decide whether or not he is palpably dangerous rather than just an odious individual.”

Judge Rose told Adalat: “You are manipulative, wicked, persuasive, and capable of leading people where they otherwise would not go.

“You are the man deserving of the greatest sentence in this case. You are the man responsible for everything that happened in that street. You, and you alone, are responsible for the violence there.Whatever the argument may have been, it was never of such a magnitude to justify what took place that night.

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“I am strongly of the view that your familiarity with firearms makes it highly likely you were the armourer. It was you with an argument with Ajaz Saddiq, it was you who sought revenge against him. You were the driver in every sense of this incident.”

Passing an 18-year sentence with an extended four-year licence period, Judge Rose said: “I am in no doubt whatsoever that you are a very dangerous man as you are willing to use violence unmeasured. Your attitude to the law is that it doesn’t apply to you.

“It would be contrary to common sense to conclude you are anything but dangerous.”