A MAN has been jailed for two years and eight months after an unprovoked hammer attack in broad daylight in Bradford city centre.

Jamal Ahmed followed his victim from a shop in Sunbridge Road and hit him on the head from behind, knocking him to the ground, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Ahmed, 30, of Pemberton Drive, Shearbridge, Bradford, struck the glancing blow in an unprovoked attack with no warning, prosecutor Camille Morland said on Monday.

Ahmed and his victim, who were strangers to one another, had exchanged a few words before the assault on Westgate on the morning of October 24 last year.

The man suffered bruising and swelling to his head.

Ahmed ran off but was arrested soon afterwards arguing with someone on Sunbridge Road, still in possession of the hammer.

The court heard that he was in breach of an 11-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, for offering to supply cocaine.

Ahmed mistook a police officer for a member of the public when he tried to sell him two wraps of the Class A drug for £70 in the early hours of March 13, 2020.

After the hammer attack he was sent to Rampton Hospital for treatment before being transferred to Leeds Prison and held on remand.

Ahmed was originally charged with the more serious offence of attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm but his plea to assault occasioning actual bodily harm was accepted by the Crown.

His barrister, Julian Jones, said he was now free from drugs and expressing genuine remorse for the assault.

He had a stable family home to return to and the offer of work at a timber business.

He was now much improved mentally and had been held in hospital and prison for almost a year.

“There’s real hope for Mr Ahmed who’s been through a very troubling time,” Mr Jones said.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Richard Mansell KC, said Ahmed had made ‘little or no progress’ on the suspended sentence order when he committed the assault seven months’ later.

He followed his victim and struck him with the hammer causing him to go to the ground. Mercifully, he sustained a bruised and swollen scalp and no more serious injury.

Judge Mansell said the man would have ongoing psychological issues after being hit with a hammer in broad daylight in the city centre.

Ahmed was jailed for 21 months for the assault and the whole of the suspended sentence was activated on top, making a total of 32 months.

Because of the amount of time he had spent in hospital and prison, he would be released on licence in about four months, the judge told him.