TWO men today received long prison sentences after a sawn-off double barrel shotgun was twice blasted through the front door of a house in Bradford while a couple and their three young children were at home.

Shakeal Rehman, 34, of Haworth Road, Heaton, Bradford, was jailed for life with a minimum term of eight years behind bars.

Bradford Crown Court heard that he fired the gun twice through the door of the house in Dorset Close, Little Horton, just after midnight on January 12.

Fiesal Khalil, 43, of Whetley Lane, Manningham, Bradford, was jailed for 14 years after asking Rehman to carry out the shooting.

The court heard that he was acting on behalf of a man from Oldham called Kashif Hussain who has fled to Pakistan.

Sentencing the men, the trial judge Recorder Mark McKone KC, said both were convicted by the jury of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to endanger life.

The victim, who was too afraid to come to court to give evidence, was paid a late-night visit and warned: “I know where you live and I will send someone around to get you.”

Rehman then went to the address on a motorbike. The woman householder watched from an upstairs window as a masked gunman fired twice at her front door.

The firearm made two large holes in the door and debris landed in the hall next to a child’s shoe.

Both defendants denied any involvement in the shooting, saying they were ‘involved with drugs’ that night.

Recorder McKone said both men had ‘led criminal lives’.

Rehman had committed house burglaries and been convicted of dealing in heroin and cocaine. In 2014, he was jailed for 12 years for rape and sexual exploitation of a 13-year-old girl. He was on licence for that when he fired the shotgun.

Khalil had a criminal record for dealing in Class A drugs.

Recorder McKone said the jury had found that both men intended to put the lives of the family in danger.

The man from Oldham had met up with Khalil in Bradford and he had called up Rehman to do the shooting.

He would have seen that the children’s mother was safely upstairs and at that hour the youngsters would be in bed. But he had fired the gun not knowing if anyone was behind the front door.

The incident was designed to cause ‘long-term terror’ to the couple and their three young children, Recorder McKone said.

The weapon was discharged as part of an organised plan and not on the spur of the moment.

The shotgun was never recovered and the motorcycle was disposed of.

Recorder McKone said that a letter from the victim saying that he and his family had got over the incident quickly was proof that he was being controlled and told what to say.

He asked that the letter be passed to the police to see if they want to investigate a charge of perverting the course of justice. It was handed into the court building by someone who declined to give their name.

Recorder McKone also dismissed a statement from the victim’s wife saying she wanted leniency for the defendants, saying that she too must have been approached and told what to say.

Khalil must serve two thirds of his 14-year prison sentence.

The recorder found that Rehman was a danger to the public under the legal provisions.

“This was a grave and sinister offence with a firearm while you were on licence for rape,” he said.

Rehman’s life term means he will be behind bars for at least eight years and will only be released if the Parole Board deems it safe to do so. He will then be on licence for life.

After the case, Detective Inspector Helen Steele, of West Yorkshire Police, said: “West Yorkshire Police’s specialist Firearms Prevent team is committed to thoroughly investigating firearms discharges in our communities and I am pleased that we have been able to take robust action to bring these people to justice.

“I welcome the sentences handed down today and hope that it reassures the communities of Bradford that we will take action against those suspected of firearms offences.

“It also serves as a warning to those who carry weapons to cause fear that we will do everything within our power to detect those responsible and bring them to justice.

“If you have information about the illegal possession or storage of any firearm, contact the police by calling 101 or go online via www.westyorkshire.police.uk/101livechat

“Or you can call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”