A schoolboy with ambitions to become a doctor has been locked up for nine years after he was found guilty of a gunpoint robbery at a Bradford shop.

Sentencing Natheem Zafar, 18, at Bradford Crown Court today, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said the severity of the sentence was a clear warning to people who used firearms to commit similar crimes.

Zafar, of Folkestone Street, Barkerend, Bradford, was found guilty by the jury of robbing the 2001 Video Library in Killinghall Road, Bradford, on April 6 last year and to possessing an imitation firearm.

He was told he will serve at least four and a half years in a young offenders’ institution.

During the trial the jury was told shopkeeper Mohammed Khalid – whom Zafar had respectfully called “uncle” on previous visits to the shop – was about to close up when a masked Zafar and two other men burst in.

Mr Khalid’s frightened six-year-old granddaughter witnessed the ordeal as Zafar held a realistic-looking pistol at him and threatened to kill him.

The gang, also armed with a hammer and a knife, then fled with up to £700 and lottery scratch cards.

Police officers investigating an unconnected matter nearby gave chase and discovered Zafar hiding behind a garden wall.

Zafar denied both charges but the jury was told his fingerprint was found on a black plastic ball-bearing gun recovered from the shop and on the scratchcards found where he was hiding.

Judge Durham Hall said Zafar had arrogantly tried to cover his tracks and had recruited a close friend and two cousins to give false evidence in the trial.

Sentencing him, the judge said: “What this case has shown is not only did you commit armed robbery, threatening him (Mr Khalid) with death in the presence of a six-year-old, but you have shown through that conduct the most ruthless and cynical response to your actions.”

The court was told Zafar had never been in trouble with the police before and had been doing well at school.

Judge Durham Hall said: “You have told the jury of your ambition to study and become a doctor or equivalent. You come from a quite exceptionally good, decent family. But the jury has found you guilty Naheem Zafar, excellent record or not, impeccable character that you have or not, after a meticulous defence in this trial, guilty of a robbery of a mini market in your own home locality of Bradford.

“You screamed and shouted at him (Mr Khalid) and throughout you held a gun to him. That man thought he was going to be shot.”

Speaking after the case, Detective Sergeant Ian Lawrence, of Bradford South CID, said: “The judge’s decision reinforces our message that we will not tolerate this type of crime and will rigorously investigate any such incident until the offenders are brought to justice.”

Mr Khalid said: “He deserved this sort of sentence. It’s long enough for a young kid. He used to come into the shop, he called me uncle and had never done anything silly. It’s not been easy but I’ll move on.”