A man, whose personality was changed by drugs, carried out a vicious street attack on an innocent victim, a court heard.

Kyle Lee, 20, targeted a man as he used a cashpoint machine in Centenary Square at 5am, Bradford Crown Court was told. Prosecutor Camille Morland said Lee approached the man, who he did not know, on March 29, and there was some conversation about the defendant supplying him with Mcat drugs.

The complainant turned to walk away from the cashpoint, Lee punched him to the ground. Lee carried on punching the man while he was on the ground, and tried to grab his phone.

The defendant shouted for help from a friend, who kicked the complainant three times. He was never identified.

Miss Morland said Lee told the victim he had a knife, though a weapon was not seen, which put him in fear.

Another individual pulled Lee from the victim and he ran away. The incident was captured on CCTV and Lee was identified.

The victim suffered a chipped tooth, gashes to his elbows, a lump on his forehead and pain to his stomach. Lee, of no fixed address, and his mother had written letters to the sentencing judge, Jonathan Durham Hall QC.

His mother Tracy Lodge said that “five years ago I would not have believed my son would have been capable of such a vicious attack on another person.”

She said she had been going through hell with her son’s drug addiction, and class A drugs over the years had changed his whole personality.

In his letter, Lee, who pleaded guilty to attempted robbery, said what he had done was cowardly and he was sickened by it. His barrister, Emma Downing, said her client was a young man who had issues. He pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

Judge Durham Hall told Lee he had targeted an innocent man who was subjected to a terrible ordeal.

“He must have feared that you had a knife and you would use it.”

Judge Durham Hall sentenced Lee to 15 months of youth custody, but said the letter from the defendant’s mother caused him not to send him away for longer.