A “domineering bully” has been locked up for more than 15 years for murdering a vulnerable alcoholic in a Bradford hostel.

Adrian Ray, 27, punched, kicked and stamped on Ranjib Singh Bassra in a prolonged and brutal assault.

Today he was starting a sentence of life imprisonment.

Judge James Goss QC told Ray he will be behind bars for 15 years and three months before he is considered for parole.

Kristian Harland, 29, who joined in the brutal attack, was jailed for eight years for manslaughter.

Ray pleaded guilty to murder just before the close of the prosecution case at a trial at Bradford Crown Court.

Harland’s plea of guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter was accepted by the Crown.

A second charge faced by both men, of perverting the course of public justice, was dropped.

Judge Goss said Mr Bassra, 48, known as Robin, was a chronic alcoholic. He was emaciated and suffered from TB, asthma and epilepsy.

Ray and Harland pretended to find him dead in his room at the hostel, on Thornton Road, on July 30 last year.

Both had fatally attacked him overnight, cleaned up the scene and laid him out in a sleeping position to try to cover their tracks.

Mr Bassra’s brother, Parvinder Singh Bassra, described him as “a family man, taken by alcohol later in life and adrift from his family, but still very much loved”.

“When sober, he was a gentle soul with a heart of gold,” the court heard.

Ray’s barrister, Douglas Hogg QC, said: “They made a pact to look after one another in their lonely and chaotic lifestyle.”

Rodney Jameson QC, for Harland, said he fell into the grip of alcoholism but was now a changed man.

Judge Goss said Ray dominated Mr Bassra. He slept in his room, controlled his finances and had assaulted him before the night of the murder. Harland’s was a case of bullying a vulnerable older man.

After the case, Detective Superintendent Chris Thompson, of the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, said: “Ranjib Bassra was a frail man at the time of his death, suffering from acute tuberculosis.

“Despite this, Ray and Harland subjected him to a sustained, brutal and cowardly attack, inflicting horrific injuries.

“In total 120 independent injuries were recorded.”