A TEENAGER who severely injured a man in a confrontation after snatching a young woman's handbag has been locked up for three and a half years.

Regan Mitchell, 18, left Christopher Johnson with a bleed to the brain and fractured cheekbone and eye socket after punching him repeatedly to the head and face.

Mitchell, of Cleckheaton Road, Low Moor, Bradford, had been convicted by a jury of causing Mr Johnson grievous bodily harm with intent, after leaving him lying badly injured in Wibsey High Street, Bradford.

The attack, on October 5, 2014, happened minutes after Mitchell and another teenager, 19-year-old Callum Finter, snatched Emma Dyson's handbag, after targeting her on the street.

Sentencing him to 42 months youth custody, at Bradford Crown Court yesterday, Judge David Hatton QC said Mitchell had over-reacted after being challenged.

He said the jury had been satisfied Mitchell had intended to cause grievous bodily harm, but he did not believe the defendant foresaw how grave the injuries would be.

Judge Hatton added: "I don't believe you intended the extent of those injuries which were, and are, severe.

"It was a serious case of violence and the offence you have been convicted of is a very serious offence."

But Judge Hatton said he took into account that it was not a prolonged assault, Mitchell had only one previous conviction which was of a dissimilar nature and had not offended since.

The judge said Mitchell was only 17 at the time of the offence and he was reducing the sentence from what would have been appropriate for an adult. He gave him a concurrent four-month sentence for theft of the handbag, which Mitchell admitted.

Finter, of Cranbrook Avenue, Wibsey, who was found guilty of theft, was sentenced to a 12-month community order, with 100 hours unpaid work.

Prosecutor Andrew Semple told the court Mr Johnson had been struck three times, causing him to go to the ground. A CT scan revealed blood to the right side of the brain with a depressed fracture, and fractures to the left eye socket and cheekbone. He said the complainant's teeth remained numb 15 months after the incident.

Mitchell's barrister, Shufqat Khan, said his client was a young man who had done a lot of growing up since the incident. His mother had died and he had a four-month-old son.

“He has matured as a result of difficult circumstances and moved forward with his life,” Mr Khan said.

Paul Armbrister, for Finter, said his client had lost his job. He had played a minor part in the theft.