Hammer attack thug left rival with fractured skull and broken knuckles before firing a crossbow at him in Leeds street feud

During a second incident Ashley Clough fired a crossbow at the same victim from an upstairs window of his home in Seacroft.

Clough was jailed for three and a half years over the offences which took place in March 2019.

Alex Menary, prosecuting, said Cough and the victim were known to each other but they fell out in January 2019.

The hammer attack took place on March 1 in Monkswood Hill.

The victim was standing outside his friend's house when Clough mounted the pavement in his Ford Fiesta and drove the vehicle at him.

The man had to jump over a garden wall to avoid being knocked over.

Clough then got out of the car and began shouting and swearing before producing the hammer.

He was taken to hospital where he was found to have a crack in his skull and broken knuckles.

Clough then used the hammer to smash the window of a car belonging to a woman around 20 minutes later.

The woman was told Clough had been seen causing the damage.

The attack on the car was witnessed by the sister of the hammer attack victim.

Clough said to her: "Your brother is going to get it."

He then reversed his car into her garden fence and said: "You are getting popped up tonight."

There was a further confrontation between the two men on March 21.

Clough saw the victim standing in the street with two of his friends near to the junction of Monkswood Hill and Monkswood Avenue.

An argument broke out and a witness described how the men appeared to be "goading" Clough.

Clough then went inside his home and appeared at an upstairs window.

Police were contacted and Clough was arrested from his home. The crossbow and the bolt were also seized.

Clough, 31, now of Kentmere Approach, pleaded guilty inflicting grievous bodily harm, affray, threatening behaviour and two counts of criminal damage.

Michael Walsh, mitigating, said Clough accepted responsibility for what he had done.

Mr Walsh said: "At that time he was somebody who thought perhaps little of taking the law into his own hands and resolving disputes, either by making threats of standing his ground."

Mr Walsh said Clough and his family had moved house in order to avoid further trouble.

Sentencing, Recorder Tom Little QC said: This was a planned and sustained attack using a weapon.

"This offence is so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate."