A masked robber who burst mob-handed into a house and terrorised and beat a retired optician and his accountant has been locked up indefinitely.

Michael Nelson, 34, was branded dangerous and given a sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection, based on a seven-and-a-half-year jail term, at Bradford Crown Court yesterday.

Nelson, of Greenholme Court, Holme Wood, Bradford, was one of three men who robbed the 68-year-old men at knifepoint on November 9 last year.

The robbers, wearing dark clothes, balaclava masks and gloves, targeted Alan Mackareth to steal his Audi TT sports car, prosecutor Michael Greenhalgh told the court.

The gang struck at Mr Mackareth’s Halifax home at 8pm. He and accountant Duncan Turner were repeatedly kicked and punched by the assailants who demanded the car keys.

Mr Mackareth needed nine stitches to his head after suffering a sustained beating and having a chair smashed over him.

Mr Duncan’s injuries included a broken jaw, Mr Greenhalgh said.

The judge, Recorder Duncan Smith, was shown photographs of the injuries suffered by the two men.

The attackers ran off with the keys to a Vauxhall Corsa. The court heard that the two other robbers had not been identified. Nelson was arrested after his footprints were found at the robbery scene. Mr Mackareth’s blood was found on his shoes.

The court heard he had a long criminal record, committing offences since he was 14 that included wounding, robbery, aggravated vehicle taking and house breaking.

Stephen Wood, Nelson’s barrister, said his client had a partner and two young children.

He was in work and had not committed any offences of violence for almost a decade.

“He was not the prime mover but was recruited into the enterprise,” Mr Wood said.

But Recorder Smith said: “This a mob-handed attack on a domestic premises where two people, not in the first flush of youth, are attacked and overpowered and a weapon used.”

The judge added that the robbery was a premeditated assault on vulnerable victims with “violence meted out indiscriminately”.

He told Nelson: “The signs are that you are losing control of your sense of right and wrong.”

Nelson must serve at least three years and four months behind bars before he can be even considered for parole.