TWO men caught transporting a pump action sawn-off shotgun and ammunition across Bradford have been given jail sentences totalling 13 years.

Jordan Farooq led police on a 'hair-raising' chase in a white Mitsubishi Pajero with no front number plate before fleeing on foot with his accomplice Zulfiqar Ali.

Yesterday, Farooq, 24, of South View Terrace, Great Horton, Bradford, was imprisoned for five and a half years.

Ali, 33, of Padma Close, Listerhills, Bradford, was locked up for seven and a half years.

Farooq pleaded guilty to possession of the sawn-off shotgun and dangerous driving.

Ali was convicted by a jury at Bradford Crown Court of possession of the firearm and possession of a 9mm Luger pistol found in a conifer tree at the back of his home.

Both men were cleared of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

During the trial, the jury heard how police pursued the Pajero from Little Horton to outside Southmere Primary School in Great Horton, just before midday on June 10.

The men ran off and were detained on open ground after a chase.

A black holdall in the front passenger footwell of the Pajero was found to contain a working pump action sawn-off shotgun, bullets, cartridges, gloves and balaclavas.

When officers searched Ali's home, they found the Luger wrapped in a balaclava hidden in a tree.

Ali's criminal record of 11 convictions for 44 offences included multiple dangerous driving offences and possession of Class A drugs. He was on prison licence at the time he committed the offences in June.

Rodney Ferm, barrister for Ali, said he was a family man very distressed by the position he had got himself into.

Farooq's 12 convictions for 19 offences included supplying Class B drugs and house burglary.

His barrister, Tim Capstick, said he did not know what type of firearm he had agreed to transport.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said a sawn-off shotgun was the weapon of choice for serious, organised criminals.

The lethal firearm was seized after a 'hair-raising chase' because the men were desperate to avoid detention.

The pair were caught by the vigilance of officers on routine patrol who were on the lookout for drugs and vehicle crime.

"There is a high degree of blatant serious criminal activity on the streets of Bradford," the judge said.

He called for the law on the charge of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life to be urgently re-examined.

He told the defendants: "I have no doubt that a reason for your not being convicted of possession with intent to endanger life is the state of the law in relation to that offence and the confined way in which a judge must sum up the matter to the jury."

The inference jurors could draw from the circumstances of a firearms case needed "urgent revisitation."