A knifeman who stabbed a woman three times in Bradford city centre has been jailed for three and a half years.

After the attack Abid Ali was tackled by brave security guard Andrew Clapham, who grabbed a broom to try to disarm him.

Ali, 25, of Sowry Place, Little Horton, Bradford, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding and having an offensive weapon in North Parade on September 11 last year.

Prosecutor Dave MacKay said Ali drew a lock knife and lunged at Barbara Worby as they argued outside the Boyes store.

Miss Worby, 35, was stabbed twice in the arm and once in the throat, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday. Her injuries were not deep and she escaped serious injury.

Mr Clapham grabbed a brush from the hardware store and the court saw CCTV footage of him fending off Ali and chasing him round the corner.

Ali was detained and remanded in custody until the sentencing hearing yesterday.

His barrister, Martin Robertshaw, said Miss Worby was pestering Ali for money.

The court heard she was a former prostitute who had recognised Ali in the Oastler Centre.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said Ali had routinely carried a knife.

A personality disorder meant he could not control his anger. He had stabbed an unarmed woman and threatened a security guard.

Mr Clapham, 40, a married father-of-two, said after the attack: “I armed myself with a yard brush to try to get the weapon out of his hand but he was lunging for my throat. I am just a security guard, I don’t have body armour, so I did the honourable thing and hit him with the brush.”

Mr Clapham, of Baildon, has now been nominated for an Association of Chief Police Officers bravery award and invited to a gala presentation in June.