KEIGHLEY’S MP has joined in criticism of a judge who spared a knifeman jail after he caused terror at the town’s railway station.

Fayez Shofi had to be Tasered on a busy platform after threatening to stab a Travel Safe Officer.

The rail official feared Shofi would knife him in the neck when he held the weapon towards his face.

Shofi, an asylum-seeker, was sentenced to two months imprisonment, suspended for two years, at Bradford Crown Court on Friday.

Knifeman Tasered by police at busy rail station spared jail

John Grogan, Labour MP for Keighley and Ilkley, told the Telegraph & Argus: “As a regular user of Keighley Station, I think the sentence is far too lenient.

“A chance has been missed to send a clear signal that the brandishing of knives in public spaces in Keighley is just not acceptable.”

Cllr Khadim Hussain (Bradford Independent Group, Keighley Central) said: “The public is quite right to be outraged because this is serious knife crime sent straight by the magistrates to the crown court.”

But although Cllr Hussain said that, generally speaking, those who commit knife crime should be locked up, he said that judges take a “holistic” approach when they have heard the full facts of an individual case.

Followers of the Telegraph & Argus on Facebook were quick to vent their outrage at the suspended sentence, with one saying he had emailed the crown court with his “concerns about what has happened in this case”.

There were calls to refer the sentence to the Attorney General as unduly lenient while others labelled it “unbelievable” “incredible” and “bloody ridiculous”.

One man wrote: “This is disgraceful. Especially at a time when we are trying to educate our teenagers about carrying knives. What message does this send out?”

Another reader commented: “Knife crime will continue to rise all the time sentences like this are handed out.”

The Travel Safe Officer called 999 after Shofi threatened “I will stab you” when he was told to stop smoking on the platform.

Shofi, 30, of Lister Avenue, East Bowling, Bradford, who needed a Bengali interpreter for the court hearing, said: “You are not police. You can’t make me do this.”

The court heard that members of the public were alarmed and an elderly woman sought assistance from rail staff to be helped from the scene.

Dramatic footage of the moment he was Tasered to the ground was captured by Damon Ralph, who was waiting for a train to Skipton.

Shofi refused to drop the knife although he was repeatedly struck on the hand with a police baton. He pleaded guilty to threatening with a bladed article at 6pm on April 12.

His solicitor said he carried a knife because he was afraid of the other residents in the asylum-seekers’ hostel and thought they were stealing from him.

Judge David Hatton QC conceded that Parliament had dictated that anyone convicted of making threats with a bladed article should be jailed for at least six months unless it was “unjust” to do so. But it was an isolated incident from a vulnerable man with no previous convictions. Although Shofi had no psychiatric issues, he had suffered mental health problems in the past.