A SACKED worker who harassed his former employer to give him his job back has been jailed for 12 months.

Kamran Zafar turned up three times at Farmers Boy on Cemetery Road in Bradford and “shouted and swore” at security staff that he wanted to be reinstated.

Bradford Crown Court heard that Zafar, 31, of Laisteridge Lane, Bradford, was dismissed in 2021 “for reasons relating to his personal hygiene”.

But after being fired he would continue to turn up at the facility’s front gates.

The incidents stopped for six to eight months when Zafar was in Pakistan but when he returned to the UK his behaviour “escalated”.

Prosecutor Benedict Sayers said: “The defendant would shout and swear at security staff at Farmers Boy, and this escalated to him assaulting staff members.”

Zafar went to Farmers Boy on three consecutive occasions – March 23, 24, and 25 this year – during which he spoke to staff via the intercom and asked for his job back. He was told he was not allowed to be on the premises.

He was arrested on March 25. During a police interview, he answered “no comment” to all questions but later pleaded guilty to three offences of breaching a restraining order that prohibited him from going within 100m of the Cemetery Road site.

This related to a conviction for disorderly conduct. He was later convicted of battery, harassment, and two further counts of disorderly conduct. All followed previous visits to the facility after being sacked. For those offences, Zafar was handed a 16-week jail sentence and a two-year restraining order.

Mitigating, Rachel Webster said Zafar, who suffered from depression and anxiety and appeared via video link from HMP Leeds, was remorseful and knew that he should not have done what he did.

She said he had given an assurance that he would not go back to Farmers Boy. Instead, he planned to “get a job and get his life back to normal”.

Sentencing Zafar, Her Honour Judge Kirstie Watson said his behaviour amounted to ”a persistent act” that had clearly caused distress to the staff involved as they had chosen to call the police.

Referring to his repeated breaches of the restraining order she said: “You cannot behave in this way relating to the company from which you were dismissed.”

She sentenced him to 12 months imprisonment for each count, to run concurrently, and extended the existing restraining order to expire on January 31, 2027.