Bradford man jailed after threatening bookmaker staff with a knife

Wednesday, 2 October 2019 16:38

A man who threatened bookmaker staff with a knife before rampaging in the street has been imprisoned for 15 months.

Soran Omar, 26, of Vicar Lane was charged with affray, threatening with a bladed article after threatening staff at the William Hill bookmakers on Leeds Road on 13 March this year.

The court heard that the incident occurred when Omar became frustrated with a gaming machine didn’t pay out the amount he had won. After he was seen hitting it a staff member paid him his money and asked him to leave.

He initially complied, before returning, wearing a balaclava and wielding a Stanley knife.

He smashed the glass door to the bookmakers and threatened staff members, before climbing on the bonnet of a passing car and demanded that the driver abandon their car, gesturing at them with the knife.

After being arrested, the court heard Omar lied to police in interview, insisting he did not have a knife and had done nothing wrong.

Judge Colin Burn sentenced Omar to 14 months in prison for the affray and bladed article offences, as well as jailing him for one month for a Bail Act offence, set to run consecutively with his other sentence.

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