A BRADFORD man who bit a chunk of flesh from the arm of a police officer was locked up today.

Janaid Iqbal, 27, of Sunningdale, Fairweather Green, who was also part of a burglary gang which disturbed householders in their beds, was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court to a total of 30 months imprisonment.

Samuel Pearson, 33, of Sticker Lane, Laisterdyke, Bradford, who was also part of the burglary team, was jailed for three years and nine months.

A judge had previously described Iqbal's assault on the officer as "outrageous and cowardly." The defendant set upon PC Shaun Leeson when he tried to apprehend him for a suspected motoring offence.

He hit the officer with a broom handle, tore a three-inch chunk of flesh from his right forearm with his teeth, and struck him with a water gun. PC Leeson was also punched once in the face by Iqbal's father, taxi driver Javed Iqbal, 55, who was previously given a community order and ordered to pay the constable £500 compensation.

MORE TOP STORIES

Other people then kicked the officer's body. His glasses were smashed and his phone stolen. He was found collapsed in a garden by colleagues, bleeding heavily from his face and with blood gushing from his arm. He needed several trips to hospital for treatment to his bitten arm and had been left with a permanent scar.

Iqbal previously pleaded guilty to assaulting PC Leeson causing him actual bodily harm. Yesterday, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC jailed him for six months for the assault and 20 months for his involvement in the two attempted burglaries. The judge also activated four months of a suspended prison sentence.

Prosecutor Mehran Nassiri told the court how a mother and her three children had been asleep in bed on the night of November 28 when she was woken by a bang and looked out of the window of her home in Halifax.

The two would-be intruders left the scene in a Peugeot van and the same vehicle was spotted a few minutes later near to another property in Halifax where the male occupier had been disturbed by banging on a door.

The pair and their driver, 27-year-old Mohammad Sakandar, of Hastings Street, Bradford, were arrested minutes later. Sakandar was remanded in custody for a pre-sentence report.

Judge Durham Hall heard that Pearson was a prolific offender and the attempted burglaries were committed when he was on licence. He warned him he faced at least six years behind bars if he re-offended.

Lawyer Kam Dhesi, for Pearson, said his client had wasted the best years of his life by committing offences.

Shufqat Khan, for Iqbal, conceded the attack on PC Leeson had been an appalling loss of self control.