A FATHER of two children laughed loudly and sarcastically as he was jailed for 14 years for shooting another man in the leg.

Mr Justice Christopher Butcher QC described the attack on Mark Lee by 30-year-old Nicholas Beck as being carried out "quite deliberately, ruthlessly and callously."

Leeds Crown Court heard Beck led the shotgun and machete attack with an accomplice after Mr Lee had damaged Beck's mother's car.

TOP STORIES: 

He took an accomplice to Grayswood Crescent, in Holme Wood and shot the 36-year-old in the leg and demanded £10,000 from his victim after they cornered him in a vehicle.

Beck, of Dawnay Road, Little Horton, then went to great lengths to destroy evidence linking him to the crime, which included arranging for the torching of the car he travelled in, destroying his mobile phone and changing his clothes before he left Bradford.

Beck was on trial with John Wilkinson, 28, of Sage Street, Little Horton.

However, he was cleared of all charges, including wounding with intent to do Mr Lee grievous bodily harm and having an offensive weapon, a machete, in a public place.

A victim impact statement read out by Nicholas Campbell QC, prosecuting, revealed how the shooting had contributed to Mr Lee breaking up with his partner and was preventing him from working.

It read: "This has affected me massively.

"I was in hospital for five days and had two operations. Since that day I have had to use crutches.

"I am still going to the Plastic Surgery department at Bradford Royal Infirmary and I still may need surgery.

"Financially, this has hit me very hard indeed.

"I used to earn around £600 a week but since this I have not been able to work at all.

"I have been unable to give anyone money since I was shot.

"Lately, I have no money at all and everyone who was relying on me for money is starting to suffer."

Peter Moulson, for Beck, said he had a history of criminal convictions, but "not of especially serious violence and nothing to indicate this was anything other than an isolated incident."

Jailing Beck for 14 years for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and five years concurrently for possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence, Mr Justice Butcher said:

"You equipped yourself with a shotgun and, with an accomplice, went after Mr Lee.

"You went after the vehicle he was in and shot him in the leg quite deliberately, ruthlessly and callously.

"There was a significant degree of mediation, use of a firearm and you played a leading role.

"It happened on a public street in broad daylight. Firearms can be terrifying to the general public when they are going about their daily lives."

Det Insp Andy Cass, from West Yorkshire Police, said: “Violent crime will not be tolerated in West Yorkshire and any offence involving the discharge of a weapon is treated extremely seriously.

“West Yorkshire Police is committed to tackling firearms crime and this outcome should serve as a warning to others that you are likely to go to prison for several years if you are convicted of such an offence."