A MAN who smashed up a motorist’s car with a metal bar has been spared prison because he had transformed his life in the three years since committing the offences.

Mohammed Hasan launched an “appalling, thuggish and hooligan” attack on a stranger’s Audi A3 after the car he was a passenger in blocked the victim’s way, Bradford Crown Court heard this week.

Hasan, 27, of Hendford Drive, Pollard Park, Bradford, set about the vehicle with a metal bar when it was parked at Greystone Mill furniture store, in the Barkerend area.

He did £4,698 worth of damage, leaving the owner, who was shopping in the store in Feather Road, feeling terrified and traumatised.

The court heard that the Audi driver found the road blocked by two other cars.

When he sounded his horn, one of the passengers got out, shouting.

The motorist drove to the furniture store and was inside when he saw on the CCTV that his car windows were being smashed with a large metal object, the court heard.

He picked out Hasan at an identity parade two months after the attack.

The incident took place on February 27, 2017.

Judge Jonathan Rose then said: “This is just another example of a case taking far too long.”

Hasan at first denied the offences.

But he then admitted criminal damage and possession of a large metal object.

He had previous convictions for robbery and attempted robbery, the court was told.

However, he had kept out of trouble since, his barrister, Robin Frieze, said.

“He has turned his life around in the last three years,” Mr Frieze told the court.

He said there was no mitigation for the offences.

“He fully recognises that there is no excuse for what he did,” Mr Frieze said.

Hasan had since married, and his wife had given him stability and taught him good sense, the court heard.

He was working full time and had stopped hanging around with those who were a bad influence on him.

Judge Rose hit out at the delay in bringing Hasan's case to sentence.

“The public have a right to expect that men who commit criminal offences are brought to justice quickly,” he said.

He told Hasan: “This was appalling, thuggish and hooligan behaviour.

"It was a brutal and persistent attack on this man’s property, causing a huge amount of damage.”

If Hasan had been sentenced in the months after the offences, he would have gone to prison.

But he had used the three years since to rehabilitate himself and become a responsible and respectable member of society.

Hasan was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

He will have to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work as part of his sentence.

He was also ordered to pay £2,000 compensation.