A MAN has been jailed for 27 months for a sustained attack on a staff member at a Bradford furniture store.

Forhad Ahmed kicked and stamped on Sajid Javed and repeatedly struck him with a bunch of keys when violence flared at Instyle on Feather Road, Barkerend.

The incident happened on the afternoon of March 15 this year, the court heard.

Prosecutor Austin Newman told Bradford Crown Court on Friday that Mr Javed was set upon when he tried to break up trouble on the shop floor at 4.30pm.

He was working as a retail assistant in the back room at the store when he heard a confrontation involving a relative that managed the shop.

Mr Javed did not see how the fight started but he tried to pull Ahmed away, Mr Newman said.

“There was then a sustained attack on Mr Javed by the defendant,” the court was told.

Ahmed, 28, of Binnie Street, Barkerend, Bradford, pushed him over, held him down and struck him repeatedly with the keys.

He kicked and stamped on him and when Mr Javed tried to protect himself, he sustained a defensive wound to his right hand.

Mr Javed tried to get up while injured and dazed but Ahmed knocked him back on to the floor.

An ambulance was called and paramedics alerted the police after becoming suspicious about how Mr Javed received his injuries.

Officers visited him in hospital and viewed CCTV footage of the attack, the court heard.

Mr Javed received a significant head injury.

He also had lacerations to his right hand.

Ahmed was arrested in Birmingham and made no comment to the police.

Even after they showed him the film of the attack, he continued to make no comment.

He was originally charged with grievous bodily harm with intent.

However, the Crown accepted his guilty plea to the lesser offence of unlawful wounding.

Ahmed’s barrister, Ayesha Smart, said the offence was out of character.

She pointed to positive character references for Ahmed, which had been handed into Judge Neil Davey QC.

The judge made a restraining order ordering Ahmed not to contact Mr Javed.