Scarborough man jailed for over two years for attacking woman with a metal bar and smashing up bus stops with an axe

Colin Bradley, 37, ran at the victim and struck her on the leg with the large metal bar in a completely unprovoked attack, York Crown Court heard.

The named victim, who was attacked outside her friend’s flat in Scarborough, suffered a broken ankle.

After being arrested and bailed for the “mindless”, drink-and-drug-fuelled attack on September 16 last year, Bradley went on a wrecking spree with an axe, smashing up four bus stops outside Scarborough Railway Station.

Prosecutor Vincent Blake-Barnard said that prior to the attack at the apartment block, Bradley had been drinking inside a flat with the victim, her friend and a neighbour.

Bradley, who was clearly “under the influence”, began acting “in a weird manner”. He suddenly left the flat, saying he was going to get a takeaway meal, and asked one of the group for money, which was refused.

He went back to his flat where he grabbed a metal bar and walked back upstairs, banging the weapon against a wall and shouting as he did so.

He then turned his ire on the victim simply because she had the “audacity” to tell him to stop verbally using her friend. Enraged, Bradley raised the bar above his head, ran at the victim and swung the weapon at her.

Mr Blake-Barnard said that because Bradley was swinging upwards towards the victim at the top of the stairs and she managed to move out of the way slightly, the blow caught the edge of her ankle, but it was enough to cause a fracture and profuse bleeding.

The victim clung on to the banister and then sought refuge in her friend’s flat. Police were called out but when they arrived, Bradley had already left the scene.

They went looking for him and found him hiding in a cupboard in a nearby flat.

The victim was treated in hospital the following day for a badly swollen ankle and cuts to her lower leg.

Scans revealed her broken ankle was broken. She had to wear special support boots for over four months, struggled to walk and suffered persistent pain which she described as “unbelievable”.

Bradley, a drug addict and “serial shoplifter”, was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and threatening a person with an offensive weapon in a private dwelling.

He was on court bail when he went on the rampage in the town centre with the axe on May 16 this year.

CCTV footage showed Bradley, of no fixed address, bringing the axe down on four bus stops outside the train station in Westborough.

Council CCTV operators alerted police after Bradley was seen going along the line of bus stops and attacking them one by one at about 11.45pm.

He was arrested about an hour later at an address in Pavilion Terrace. Police found the axe in an outdoor bin where Bradley had dumped the weapon.

He was charged with criminal damage and carrying a bladed article after again refusing to answer police questions.

He ultimately admitted all four offences and appeared for sentence yesterday (Monday, September 9) when the prosecution read out a statement from the victim of the first attack, who barely knew Bradley and had been visiting a friend when the incident occurred.

She said the “unprovoked and extreme” attack by a man who was effectively a stranger had had a “massive” psychological impact on her. She was still taking strong painkillers some 10 months after the attack.

She felt “physically nauseous” when she saw the extent of her injury which had still not fully healed. She had been wearing morphine patches to dull the “considerable” pain and she could only walk short distances.

The court heard that Bradley, a father-of-two, had 11 previous convictions for 23 offences including serious violence, possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, aggravated vehicle taking and carrying a blade.

In 2020 he was convicted of carrying a meat cleaver.

Defence barrister Jordan Millican said that Bradley’s “crippling” drug addiction had led him down “quite a volatile path”.

Recorder Mr D Kelly said Bradley’s offences were serious enough in themselves but were aggravated by his criminal record.

Bradley was jailed for two years and five months.