Custody for man in crossbow attack

A court heard Jaspal Singh Marwaha, 18, is now likely be released immediately from a young offenders’ institution on licence as he has already served more than half the sentence on remand. Marwaha, 18, fired the weapon at his father Surinder as he lay in bed with his wife at the family home in Leeds in May.

Mr Marwaha managed to pull the metal bolt, which had travelled at 140mph, from his chest and escaped serious injury after it missed vital organs.

His son was due to go on trial for attempted murder last month but the Crown Prosecution Service accepted his plea of guilty to unlawful wounding after agreeing the row was not connected to the shooting incident, which he claimed happened accidentally after he tripped while carrying out “target practice”.

Sentencing at Leeds Crown Court, Mr Justice Keith said: “It is difficult to think of anything more dangerous than using a lethal weapon like a crossbow in a confined area like your own home.”

The teenager was heavily drunk when he discharged the weapon. His mother had made pasta for the evening meal and her son came downstairs to collect it.

An argument began when the teenager insisted his father should eat more of the meal than he had done. The teenager entered his parents’ bedroom two hours later and discharged the bolt from the crossbow. Police arrested the teenager at his home in Harehills Avenue, Chapeltown.

The judge added: “You have what many people might regard as an unhealthy interest in weapons.”