Teen locked up for role in shooting 'rampage' around Halifax

Kyle Haughey, 18, was already on bail for firing an air weapon at the head of an innocent man in a Halifax park when he became involved in a 90-minute crime spree with 21-year-old criminal Hamza Iqbal.

Iqbal, of Richmond Road, Halifax, was jailed last month for six years after a judge said he had used the town like “a shooting gallery” as he randomly fired a realistic-looking BB gun at members of the public.

Iqbal’s drunken offending began with an attack on the 54-year-old driver of an Iceland delivery vehicle in the Spring Hall Lane area of the town on the afternoon of February 24.

Prosecutor Martin Robertshaw told Bradford Crown Court today (Wednesday) that after the pair approached the vehicle Iqbal shot at the driver six times and he later had to have two ball-bearings removed from his head.

Soon after that attack the duo confronted a man returning home from a shopping trip to Asda and Iqbal used the handgun to “pistol whip” their victim over the head.

By 3.30pm that afternoon the pair were seen “staggering” across the road by a female motorist and the court heard that she became extremely frightened when Iqbal pointed the handgun at her.

At about 4pm the two defendants went into a house on Grosvenor Terrace and when they were challenged Iqbal fired eight shots at the occupant who later had ball-bearings removed from his head.

Mr Robertshaw said another man in the house tried to intervene and he was shot at three times.

The court heard that one of the pellets only avoided going into his eye because it smashed the lens in his glasses.

Iqbal, who also fired shots at an unmarked police car, was arrested and the court heard today/yesterday that he had previous convictions for offences including wounding and a car-jacking involving an elderly female motorist.

Iqbal admitted a series of offences including assaults, possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and criminal damage.

Haughey, of Akeds Road, Halifax, admitted charges of assault and possession of an imitation firearm with intent in relation to the separate incident in the park a fortnight before the spree of offences on February 24.

He also pleaded guilty to a series of joint charges of assault, possession of an imitation firearm and criminal damage involving the offences committed with Iqbal.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC was told that Haughey, who suffers from ADHD, had been made the subject of a youth referral order last year for a previous offence of possessing an air weapon in a public place.

The judge said Haughey and Iqbal had gone on the “rampage” with a loaded and potentially lethal imitation firearm.

“I have noted from the pre-sentence report that you suffer from a number of problems, ADHD and other problems, but none of that explains or excuses your actions on the two days in question,” the judge told Haughey as he sentenced him to a total of three years and four months in a young offenders institution.