A MOURNER attacked at his grandmother’s wake retaliated by striking his assailant repeatedly with a torch landing himself a six-month jail sentence.

Liam Turner was punched to the ground and struck again when outside a pub in Keighley with his family after the funeral service on May 23, Bradford Crown Court heard.

He was ushered aside, seized in a headlock and assaulted by a man who parked up in a Mitsubishi Shogun, prosecutor Samuel Sharp said.

Members of Turner’s family then became involved and he grabbed a torch and struck the man multiple times to protect them, his barrister Rebecca Young explained.

He then hit the Shogun with the torch before throwing it into a bin.

Turner, 26, a roofer, of Woodhouse Grove, Keighley, pleaded guilty to affray.

Mr Sharp said the Shogun driver was acquitted of the offence after a trial at the magistrates’ court.

He said the incident arose from on ongoing dispute. Turner had seven convictions for ten offences, including an affray arising from the same set of problems. He was jailed for two years for that offence, dating from March last year, and had been recalled on licence until May, 2024.

Miss Young said he was never asked to give a police statement saying what was going on at the wake.

She told the court there was an ongoing feud between the man and an associate of Turner, making him a target even though he wasn’t involved.

The police had attended an earlier family funeral to prevent there being any disruption.

A few weeks later, Turner’s grandma died but no one thought there would be any trouble on the day of her funeral, Miss Young said.

But the man turned up outside the pub at about 7pm and walked up to Turner who told him it wasn’t the time and the place and could they leave it for another day.

The man assaulted him and left him on the ground for almost a minute.

Turner got up and saw members of his family in a disturbance with the man. He said he hit him with the torch to protect them, Miss Young stated.

He was the father of two children, in stable accommodation and full-time work when he was recalled to prison to serve almost another year. A letter he had written to the court showed real insight into his behaviour and regret that the public were involved.

Miss Young said she didn’t know what the actual dispute was about. Recorder Paul Reid said the sentence would be greatly mitigated by the circumstances of the case.

It was ‘the most unfortunate combination of circumstances’ arising from ‘a rather inexplicable dispute’ between the man and people Turner knew.

Turner went too far when he picked up the torch and struck the man on the ground after he was provoked.

‘I fully appreciate that none of this was your doing,” Recorder Reid said.

He told Turner that he didn’t know if the six-month sentence would affect his release date.