A chef who threw stones at police during the Bradford riots has become the last man to be jailed for Britain's worst mainland violence in 20 years.

Mohammed Ayub Sheikh, 33, was the 200th person to be locked up as the ground-breaking six-and-a-half-year investigation into the July 2001 disturbances finally drew to a close yesterday.

Sentencing him to 30 months imprisonment, Judge Roger Scott said Bradford had paid a high price for the activities of Sheikh and a large number of other rioters.

"It has taken a deal of effort from all sections of the community, and the local authority and other agencies, to try to rectify the harm that was done, throughout the UK and the world, to the reputation of this fine city," Judge Scott said.

"They have striven very hard, and as far as you can tell Bradford is now back on a right and proper tack, with a good future for investment purposes beckoning.

"This is apparently the last Bradford case of the rioters and we all expect that there will be no such repetition in the future because the bridges have been mended, because the community has put things behind it and the citizens of Bradford are of the belief that no such riots will take place in the future."

Prosecutor Richard Sagar told Bradford Crown Court that a serious disturbance took place on Saturday, July 7, 2001, and into the early hours of Sunday, after Anti-Nazi League supporters gathered in Centenary Square in response to a proposed Right-Wing rally.

Fighting broke out in the city centre, missiles were thrown at police and shops attacked, and police decided to move the offenders out of the centre.

Over the next few hours of rioting, police were targeted with petrol bombs, stones, golf balls and a crossbow and cars were set alight and pushed downhill at police lines. Three hundred officers were injured.

Manningham Ward Labour Club was firebombed, with people trapped inside, and many millions of pounds of damage was caused to commercial properties.

Police used still photographs and video footage, some taken from a helicopter, to gather evidence on offenders, and Sheikh, formerly of Cambridge Street, Great Horton, Bradford, was identified when work colleagues saw his photo among scores of images of suspects released to the public.

He gave himself up to Bradford police in September this year and told officers he had been living in London and only found out the previous month that he was wanted after getting an anonymous phone call. He said people were throwing stones and he had joined in. He had been drunk at the time.

The court was shown 20 minutes of video footage of the riots in which Sheikh, who pleaded guilty to riot and had no previous convictions, was seen at the front throwing missiles.

His barrister, Sukhbir Bassra, said that during the six years Sheikh had married and had a son but his wife had divorced him and part of the reason was he knew this was hanging over his head.

Mr Bassra said: "He was contacted by various people trying to persuade him to do the right thing and hand himself in, and he did, knowing he could probably get away with it if he didn't."

Judge Scott agreed fences had been mended, the community had moved on and said the riots were "a distant memory."

He said Sheikh had thrown between five and ten missiles when he acted in a violent manner for about half an hour.

Judge Scott said Sheikh would have been given a five-year prison sentence if he had been convicted by a jury but he was able to reduce that by a third for his guilty plea.

He added: "You gave yourself up with no prospect of you being found and convicted. It's right and proper, in the circumstances you now find yourself in, to reduce that sentence by a further ten months."