TWO men have each been locked up for seven years after shots were fired on the streets of Bradford in broad daylight causing adults and children to ‘duck and dive’ to get out of the way.

Live rounds were discharged at two separate locations in the city when trouble flared between two gangs, Bradford Crown Court heard on May 23.

The judge, Recorder Tahir Khan QC, said multiple rounds were discharged. Shots were fired from a moving vehicle in the ‘planned, organised criminality’ with a high risk of death or serious injury.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Cale CoxenCale Coxen

Liam Rogers, 23, of St Matthews Road, Bankfoot, Bradford, was jailed for seven years.

Cale Coxen, 19, of Carr Bottom Road, Bankfoot, Bradford, was sent to a young offender institution for seven years.

Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Prosecutor David Hall said that at 4pm on September 21 last year the men drove to Smith Avenue, Wibsey, where there was ‘the opposing gang’ of six to eight people.

Two shots were fired from the Vauxhall Corsa that Rogers and Coxen were in while adults and children were present at the scene. They had to ‘duck and dive’ when the 12 bore shotgun was discharged, Mr Hall said.

The other gang had a handgun and that was fired a number of times, with 9mm blank cartridges recovered from the street.

The court heard that shortly after 6pm the same day, the Corsa was chased by a black Mitsubishi Shogun through Bradford.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Liam Rogers Liam Rogers

Two more shots were fired from the Corsa on Holroyd Hill. The Shogun rammed the car and it drove off.

Mr Hall said there was a third man in the Corsa but he got out and disappeared. The shotgun was never recovered.

Coxen was arrested in Bradford and Rogers in Glastonbury. They made no reply to police questions.

Kieran Galvin said in mitigation for Rogers that he was still a young man and a model prisoner while on remand in HMP Leeds. He knew he would receive a lengthy jail sentence.

Shufqat Khan, for Coxen, said he was 18 at the time of the offence and lacked maturity. It wasn’t his argument. He was called on to assist and there might have been an element of bravado.

Coxen was not the prime mover or the orchestrator of the violence. He had been in HMP Doncaster since his arrest, locked up in his cell for 23 hours a day.

Recorder Khan said the offence was so serious that only an immediate and long sentence of custody could be justified.

Coxen had at first denied being at the scene while Rogers said he was driving the car and knew nothing about what was going to happen.

But the offence was planned. The defendants had possession of the shotgun when they got into the Corsa and drove to the scene of the first shooting.

Both pleaded guilty at trial, waiting until ‘the last moment’ to admit the offence at the door of the court.

What happened was ‘part and parcel of a dispute’ between the two of them, and possibly one of more other people, and others connected to the Mitsubishi Shogun and another vehicle present at the scene.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Bradford Crown CourtBradford Crown Court

The men had driven to Smith Avenue armed with a shotgun. Shots were fired from the Corsa at the opposing group in a residential area outside a shop.

There were members of the public there. Adults and children were present, ‘ducking and diving’ to get out of the way,’ Recorder Khan said.

The second discharge was from a blank firing handgun in possession of the other gang. A number of 9mm cartridges were fired. Neither weapon was ever recovered.

The Corsa drove off pursued by the Shogun which rammed the Corsa from behind. It was now shortly after 6pm on Holroyd Hill. The back seat passenger in the Corsa fired the shotgun before the ramming.

Rogers fled afterwards and was arrested in Glastonbury and the Shogun was never found.

Recorder Khan said Rogers knew full well what was going to happen and played a full part in it.

Coxen was also in the Corsa when the shots were fired and was seen running towards the opposing group wielding a machete.

He accepted that he had fired at the Shogun, telling the probation officer it was because the car was being rammed.

Recorder Khan said multiple rounds were discharged. Shots were fired from a moving vehicle in broad daylight.

It was planned, organised criminality with a high risk of death or serious injury with live rounds being fired at two separate occasions.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Amir MushtaqAmir Mushtaq

AMIR MUSHTAQ

A WOMAN was seriously injured when two cars ‘exploded’ in an early hours smash in central Bradford, a court heard.

Amir Mushtaq went through a red light at excessive speed in his Volkswagen Jetta, crashing into a Vauxhall Vectra on Croft Street and causing catastrophic damage.

Today, he was jailed for a total of three years following the collision at 2.15am on February 17, 2019.

The father of two, formerly of Highlands Grove, Great Horton, Bradford, pleaded guilty to causing his sister-in-law serious injury by dangerous driving.

He was imprisoned for two years, with 12 months of a suspended sentence for theft activated consecutively, and banned from driving for 42 months.

Prosecutor Nick Adlington told Bradford Crown Court that 30-year-old Mushtaq at first denied being the driver but changed his plea to guilty before his trial.

The crash at the junction of Manchester Road and Croft Street happened after he went through a red light, hitting the Vectra and causing ‘catastrophic damage.’ “One witness described seeing the two cars exploding,” Mr Adlington said.

Mushtaq had two passengers in the car including his sister-in-law who sustained three fractured vertebra. The driver of the Vectra had severe whiplash and Mushtaq himself was badly injured.

His DNA was found on the airbag on the driver’s side of the car, Mr Adlington said.

Defence barrister, Andrew Dallas, said Mushtaq had since moved to Oldham with his family and was working as a delivery driver.

He too was seriously injured in the collision, sustaining a fractured pelvis and ribs and a punctured lung.

Mr Dallas said the case had taken a long time to get to court. The significant delay was not the fault of Mushtaq, although he had then denied the offence.

He had kept out of trouble in the more than three years since the crash and he was fully licensed and insured to drive the car.

Mushtaq conceded that his speed was excessive when he hit the Vectra and he could not explain why he went through the red light.

Recorder Tahir Khan QC said Mushtaq’s brother’s wife sustained really serious injury in the collision. She had three factures to her vertebrae and a fractured hip and she was in hospital for weeks.

The driver of the Vectra had a very lucky escape. It could have been much more serious for him.

Recorder Khan acknowledged that the jail sentence would have an impact on Mushtaq’s family but he was going at excessive speed and went through a red light shortly after receiving the suspended sentence.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Timothy JacksonTimothy Jackson

TIMOTHY JACKSON

A VIOLENT robber who slammed a cyclist against an underpass wall and held a broken bottle to his throat has been jailed for three years.

Timothy Jackson and his accomplice struck after the victim had stopped to put the chain back on his bike, Bradford Crown Court heard.

He was in the Manchester Road underpass in central Bradford on his way to work when he was waylaid, prosecutor David Ward said.

Jackson grabbed him by his hood and slammed him against the wall. When he held a broken Jägermeister bottle against his neck, the victim said he ‘wasn’t prepared to die for a push bike.’ Jackson then punched him in the face and the two robbers got on to the cycle and rode off on it together.

The second robber was arrested nearby and Jackson’s contact details were on his phone.

Jackson, 33, of St Margaret’s Avenue, Great Horton, Bradford, made no comment when questioned by the police.

He went on to plead guilty to robbery of the £50 pedal cycle and possession of the broken bottle as an offensive weapon on the late afternoon of June 1 last year.

Mr Ward said Jackson had 44 previous convictions for 84 offences, including 42 for theft and related matters. He also had a robbery with an offensive weapon on his record.

The co-accused in the robbery was jailed for two years, the court was told. Mr Ward said the second man was not the principal mover and did not have a weapon.

Shufqat Khan said in mitigation that Jackson had a difficult upbringing in a children’s home and had been in and out of custody since. But his life now had new stability and he wanted to lead a crime-free future with his partner.

Recorder Tahir Khan QC said Jackson was ‘the leading force’ in the robbery. He had held a broken bottle to the victim’s throat and punched him in the face.

He conceded that Jackson had a difficult upbringing reflected in the many offences he had committed over the years, including robbery and possessing offensive weapons.

Since 2019, there had been a significant shift in his behaviour and he had kept out of trouble for two years before the robbery. He was now in a stable relationship with caring responsibilities.

Jackson was jailed for a total of three years, with a concurrent sentence imposed for the offensive weapon offence.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Ian Manning set fire to the Alhambra in BradfordIan Manning set fire to the Alhambra in Bradford

IAN MANNING

TWO men who set fire to the Alhambra Theatre causing £22,500 damage have been jailed at Leeds Crown Court.

Ian Manning and Ricky Stewart had made ‘a mindless attack on a much-loved theatre in Bradford,’ the judge sentencing them said yesterday.

Manning, aged 35, of Nottingham Street, Bradford Moor, Bradford, and Stewart, 24, of North Marine Road, Scarborough, were convicted by a jury after a trial at Bradford Crown Court in January of setting fire to the theatre, often described as the jewel in Bradford’s crown, on January 17, 2020.

They were sentenced on a video link from HMP Leeds where they were remanded in custody. Each was imprisoned for 12 months for the arson attack on the 1,400-seater theatre.

The Alhambra was the vision of Francis Laidler, a local impresario who had the idea to build a brand new theatre in 1912 and it was two years later that his dream was realised.

Recorder Anthony Hawks said: “It’s an icon of the city and the citizens of Bradford are very proud of it.”

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Damage caused to the Alhambra Theatre in a ‘mindless’ arson attack. Picture: West Yorkshire PoliceDamage caused to the Alhambra Theatre in a ‘mindless’ arson attack. Picture: West Yorkshire Police

The damage to the Bradford Council-owned building was ‘relatively minor’ he stated but he told the men: “For all you knew you could have burned the whole theatre down and caused hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage.”

Manning also received a three-year consecutive sentence for a separate offence of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent to run consecutively with the 12 months, making a total of four years.

His barrister Christopher Styles said in mitigation that his client had serious mental health problems, a learning difficulty and no previous convictions for violence or arson.

The Section 18 GBH was admitted on the basis that he did not start the violence. He stepped in to help a woman who was being assaulted by another man.

He was repeatedly pushing her and ‘ragging her around.’ Manning stepped in to assist her and lost control because he had been drinking.

The victim sustained a fracture to the orbital region of the skull that did not require surgery. It was not a grave or a life-threatening injury, Mr Styles said. He was out of hospital in 48 hours and there were no long-term effects.

Manning was downing four to five litres of cider a day at the time and while on remand he had stopped drinking alcohol. He was a highly vulnerable man with a number of serious problems.

He had no record for setting fires or damaging property and he wasn’t by nature a violent man. The probation and psychological reports had detailed his mental health and learning difficulties.

Recorder Hawks accepted that Manning was going to the assistance of the woman and in no way initiated the violence. After that he lost control because he had been drinking and kicked and stamped on the man on the ground.

PC Natasha Morgan, of Bradford City Centre Neighbourhood Team, said: “I welcome the sentence handed down today to Stewart and Manning, they deliberately started the fire and have shown no regard for the damage it caused.

“The consequences could have been far worse, and it is by sheer luck that no one was injured in this fire.

“More than £20,000 pounds worth of damage was caused to the historic building which is a great part of Bradford’s history.”

The Alhambra is regarded as the North’s premier receiving venue and hosts large scale entertainment from international dance to musicals, drama and Yorkshire’s biggest pantomime.