Youth who battered man named

A 16-year-old youth battered a vulnerable grandfather with a piece of wood in a West Yorkshire street and then bragged about it on Facebook.

Teenager Hamza Iqbal, now 17, can be named despite being a juvenile after Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said he should be identified owing to the seriousness of the attack.

Iqbal’s victim Steven Prince, who is understood to be in his 50s, thought he had been left for dead after he was hit three times over the head during the night-time confrontation in the Savile Park area of Halifax in April.

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Bradford Crown Court heard that Iqbal, a cannabis user since the age of 11, blocked Mr Prince’s path and demanded his money.

Mr Prince only had his bus fare and after he refused to hand it over Iqbal hit him twice on the head with a large piece of wood. He needed 20 stitches in cuts to his head.

Iqbal, of Richmond Road, Halifax, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding.

Judge Durham Hall told Iqbal: “You have a very sinister and dark part to your character.”

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The judge said Iqbal appeared to be a “devious and manipulative” individual.

He sentenced him to the maximum two-year detention and training order which he said would provide education and training as well as effective supervision and monitoring following his release.