A policeman told today of his battle back to health after the thug who smashed a concrete block over his head was jailed for nine years.

PC Steven Mykyta, 42, is still suffering the effects from the vicious attack in February which left him paralysed and unconscious.

But he has told how he is determined to get back to patrolling the streets.

PC Mykyta, a beat officer of 16 years, was on secondment in Allerton when he was attacked by 21-year-old Steven Bates who was jailed at Bradford Crown Court yesterday.

PC Mykyta had been chosen to work on the operation aimed at reducing crime on estates in the area.

In the six months he and colleague PC Paul Armitage had been working on the assignment they had made over 100 arrests and were having a "significant" impact on reducing crime.

The officers had spotted Bates, with a group of others in possession of some fishing tackle they believed had been stolen earlier that day.

The pair had split up and PC Mykyta came under attack when he tried to arrest one of the group, teenager Oliver Barker, on wasteland near Binbrook View alone at around 7pm.

He had to desperately call for back-up as the gang surrounded him and began kicking and punching him.

"I heard the car and I was aware my colleague had attended and was running towards me," PC Mykyta said.

"Oliver Bates had wrapped his legs around me and was trying to pull me over. Just out of the corner of my eye I saw a pair of feet. I looked up and saw Steven Bates. He was standing about four feet away from him and I saw him raise a concrete slab above his head with both hands.

"My first thoughts then were for the safety of my colleague, I thought he was going to throw that at Paul and it was quite a substantial slab of concrete.

"The next thing I felt a heavy blow on my head, a real bang, and everything went in slow motion. I fell down. I tried to get up but the whole of my left side was paralysed, I must have lost consciousness then."

PC Mykyta was rushed to Bradford Royal Infirmary where two scans revealed a fractured skull and a two-inch blood clot. He was transferred to Leeds General Infirmary where he underwent a four-hour brain operation.

The father-of-two from the Bingley area said it was at this point he realised how serious his injuries were.

"I realised then there was a chance I might not see my six-year-old twins again or if I did I might be paralysed," he said.

PC Mykyta spent three days in hospital following the surgery and was immobile for another six weeks.

"I had no use in my left arm. When I was walking I was walking at four inch paces. I couldn't sleep I was in such immense pain," he said.

It took him a further three months to get back walking but he was determined to do so for his partner Jeannie Oprey, and their children Michael and Natasha.

"It was such a slow process, but there was nothing I could do about it. I just kept pushing myself - if I took 10 paces one day, to take 12 the next," PC Mykyta, who was an officer in the Navy before he joined the police, added.

He said that before the incident he had been fit and healthy, enjoyed weight lifting, rugby and judo and had completed the Great North Run for his daughter, who has Down's Syndrome.

PC Mykyta has been told he will make a full recovery, but he does not know how long it will take. He still has no feeling in his left arm, has lost a stone in weight, has trouble with his balance, is susceptible to headaches, dizzy spells and tingles down his spine, arms and legs.

He says he has also become introverted and nervous in crowds of people.

"At the moment I am taking it one day at a time. I would like to think at some stage I would be going back to work but not until I am nearly 100 percent fit.

"They may give me an office job and that is going to be very hard to accept given that I have spent 16 years on the street arresting people. I would like to go back and resume full duties, and arrest more people just to show it's not beaten me."

He said his colleagues at Bradford North police station had been fantastic and kept him going, and he had received hundreds of cards from members of the public.

Detective Inspector Gerry O'Shea, of Bradford North, said after the hearing: "This was a life-threatening injury and there was serious concern for Steve for some time. He is not yet fully recovered but typical of Steve's commitment is the fact that he is hoping to return to light duties in the near future."

Bradford Crown Court heard that Bates, of Greenway Drive, Allerton, had previous convictions for violence towards police officers.

Recorder Jeremy Richardson QC told him: "You attacked a defenceless police officer on his own when he was on his knees. The courts of this country must make it plain to you and others that if police officers are attacked during the course of their duties severe sentences will be imposed."

"Had that officer died, and he could so easily have done, you would be serving a life sentence," he added.

Barrister Jayne Beckett, for Bates, handed in a letter to the judge in which he expressed his remorse for the attack and she indicated that he was willing to have a face to face meeting with PC Mykyta so he could apologise to him.

Bates pleaded guilty to offences of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, violent disorder and handling stolen goods.

Yesterday Barker, of Binbrook View, Allerton, was given a nine-month sentence in a young offender's institution after he admitted a handling charge.

e-mail: sarah.bayliss@bradford.newsquest.co.uk