THREE men who carried out a “cowardly attack” on a disabled man, leaving him for dead have received lengthy jail sentences.

Andrew Law, 18, Jonathan Jackson, 19, and Andrew Gorton, 21, had been drinking heavily and ambushed cerebral palsy sufferer Damien Shepherd.

The attack in Burnley Road, Todmorden, in April, left the 43-year-old victim with a brain injury.

Jackson and Gorton admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Shepherd with intent.

Law was convicted after a trial at Bradford Crown Court.

Law, of Bedford Street, Todmorden, was sent to a young offenders’ institution for 12 years. Jackson, of Robinwood Terrace, Todmorden, and Gorton, of Burnley Road, Todmorden, were jailed for 11 years each.

Detective Inspector Tony Nicholson, of Calderdale CID, said: “The cowardly assault on Mr Shepherd, a vulne-rable man, by three young, fit individuals disgusted all of the police officers involved in this case.

”Mr Shepherd was a visibly disabled man who had no connection whatsoever to his three drunken attackers who had, it would appear, decided to attack any passer-by on that night.

”Mr Shepherd will carry the long term effects of that attack for the rest of his life.

”Detectives in this case have forged a close relationship with the Shepherd family and our thoughts are with the family.

“We hope that these sentences provide some comfort to them.”

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall told the defendants “Now that is depravity. It is sadism.

“It is brutality and it is evil. You have shattered the life of a fellow human being.”