A DRUG user who robbed a Bradford shopkeeper in a "terrifying" attack with a knife and metal bar has been jailed for eight years.

John Boyd, 37, had only been out of prison for a month when he confronted Vipul Rana outside the M & A Food & Wines convenience store on Buttershaw Lane on April 6.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, said Boyd had a "very long and terrible" criminal record, after hearing he had 24 convictions for 73 previous offences.

Prosecutor John Bull told Bradford Crown Court that Boyd, of Albion Street, Dewsbury, had approached the store at around 9pm on the date of the robbery.

He saw Mr Rana and asked him if he was closing the shop, and how many people were working there.

He made a demand for money from the till, at which point Mr Rana noticed Boyd was brandishing a large kitchen knife and a metal bar.

Mr Rana tried to retreat behind the shop counter, but Boyd attacked him with the metal bar, causing a deep cut to his head.

The pair also suffered cuts to their hands as Mr Rana struggled to wrestle the knife from Boyd.

Before leaving the shop, Boyd took a tub from below the till containing around £1,000 from the sale of lottery tickets.

He was seen by a witness talking to himself as he fled the area, and blood from the wounds to his hands was also left at the scene.

Ray Singh, mitigating for Boyd, said his client had no recollection of the incident as he was on drugs at the time of the offence.

He said Boyd had surrendered to a police station on April 11 as he knew he must have been involved in "something untoward."

Appearing via video link, Boyd told the court he had been released from prison on March 7, having been sentenced to five years in 2013 for wounding with intent in relation to an incident in which he injured a taxi driver while trying to dodge a fare.

Sentencing Boyd to an eight-year extended jail term, Judge Thomas said: "Your offence goes beyond that of a walk-in robbery.

"You took with you two weapons and attacked the unfortunate Mr Rana, causing him some real harm.

"It is impossible to think that however a robust individual he may be, he wasn't terrified and traumatised by what happened to him."