A MAN has been jailed for 13 months after arming himself with a baton and causing an “ugly and frightening” disturbance at a Keighley shop.

Leigh Raby went into North Street Stores in the Airedale Centre masked and with his hood up after the shopkeeper had accused him of spitting on the window, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Raby, 38, of Parkwood Rise, Keighley, was chased away from outside the premises earlier in the day when he returned at about noon with his face covered and in different clothing, prosecutor Alex Sutton said.

When the shopkeeper’s friend tried to get him to leave the shop, Raby struck him on the head with the asp extendable baton causing a four centimetre cut that needed medical treatment.

In the struggle that ensued, Raby’s face covering came off and he was restrained outside the store. He escaped but was apprehended when he came back soon afterwards.

Miss Sutton said that he had been injured in the struggle and the police wanted to take him to hospital but he objected, headbutting an officer in the chest and kicking him on the shin causing grazing.

Raby pleaded guilty to affray, assaulting the shopkeeper’s friend causing him actual bodily harm, possession of an offensive weapon and assaulting a police constable as an emergency worker on July 20 last year.

The court heard he had 27 previous convictions for 54 offences, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm, robbery and battery.

His barrister, Abdul Shakoor, said Raby’s victim aimed a kick at him to get him out of the shop when trouble flared in the ongoing dispute.

Raby’s life had previously been blighted by drugs misuse but he had now turned a corner in his life.

He had been out of trouble before this since 2018 and was teetotal and drug free.

Raby had been held in custody in Leeds Prison for seven and a half months, the equivalent of serving a 15 month jail sentence, and he was very anxious to stay out of trouble in the future.

Recorder Taryn Turner sentenced him to a total of 13 months’ imprisonment meaning he had already served his sentence.

She told him he had “an inglorious criminal history” and that he had been bothering the shopkeeper before taking the “mean and wicked” baton into the store.

“It was an ugly and frightening incident,” Recorder Turner said.