A "FIGHTING drunk" who smashed a vodka bottle into a young man's face, knocking him unconscious and scarring him for life, has been jailed for two years.

Mawadat Kazmi hurled the bottle at a shop assistant before hitting Nabeel Ali on the forehead with it, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Kazmi, 23, of Church Street, Manningham, Bradford, posed a high risk of serious harm to the public, Judge Jonathan Rose said yesterday.

He pleaded guilty to causing Co-op worker Christopher Hughes actual bodily harm and, an hour later, causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Ali in an unprovoked attack in the street.

Prosecutor Kate Bisset said the offences took place in the early evening of April 7 last year.

Residents in Park Hill Drive, Allerton, Bradford, were alerted to two men shouting and scuffling in a snicket.

One of them was Kazmi, who was swigging from a bottle of vodka.

He went to the nearby Co-op, on Allerton Road, where he tried to start an argument with the staff.

Kazmi punched Mr Hughes in the face, cutting his mouth, when he tried to calm him down.

He then threw the vodka bottle at Mr Hughes, but missed him.

Kazmi retrieved the unbroken bottle and went on his way.

At 6.45pm, he encountered Mr Ali and a group of his friends in Rhodesway.

Miss Bisset said Kazmi tried to start a fight, demanding: "Do you know who I am?" before throwing the vodka bottle in Mr Ali's face.

He was knocked out and woke up in Bradford Royal Infirmary where he needed stitches to his head.

A cut across his forehead had left a permanent scar, the court was told.

Miss Bisset said that after the attack, Kazmi was picking on everyone, provoking passers-by and trying to start a fight.

He had six previous convictions for nine offences, including battery and two robberies.

Kazmi's barrister, James Bourne-Arton, conceded that his client had "an unenviable record for serious violence."

After serving a sentence of three years and three months in a young offender institution for robbery, Kazmi had suffered "heightened anxiety" and was being treated for depression.

"He had drunk vast quantities of alcohol on this occasion, leading him to pick a fight with anyone he could," Mr Bourne-Arton said.

At the time, Kazmi was homeless and leading an unstable life. He was now back with his family and had not drunk any alcohol since committing the offences.

Judge Rose agreed with the probation officer who assessed Kazmi as a potential public danger.

"You are a violent man, however it is dressed up. It was senseless violence in drink. You were fighting drunk. You had a bottle of vodka and were looking for a fight with anybody."

Mr Hughes was just trying to protect the shop and its customers, the judge said, and Mr Ali had done nothing to Kazmi. He had suffered a serious injury and was scarred for life.