One-legged Leeds addict attacked bus driver over free ride

Amputee Michael Harrison forced open the cab door when the driver rang his supervisor, Leeds Crown Court heard this week.

Forty-one-year-old Harrison boarded the bus on Town Street in Armley on July 6 last year, and told the driver he had forgotten his bus pass, so the driver let him on.

But when his friend tried to get on for free, the driver ordered he pay, and an argument broke out.

Harrison, of Whincover Close, Farnley, was able to open the cab and strike the driver in the arm with his crutch, prosecutor Sam Roxborough said.

Around a month later, Harrison threatened to stab a council street cleaner on Town Street after he refused to give him tobacco, and then a female who overheard the conversation.

Officers arrested him minutes later and kicked one in the chest and spat at the other. He also spat in the van, and kicked another officer in the chest after he had been taken to hospital.

Harrison was later found guilty of three counts of assaulting an emergency worker, assault on the bus driver, threatening behaviour, criminal damage to the police van and failing to provide a sample for drug analysis at the police station.

He also breached a restraining order after he turned up at his parents’ home. He was given a 10-year order in 2013 to keep away from their street.

Defending Harrison, Theresa Clark said that his leg was amputated last year due to complications from deep-vein thrombosis stemming from his drug addiction.

She said: “In his mind, he has not had chance to process the loss of his leg at all.”

She said he started abusing prescription drugs and drinking to excess and added: “It led to the deterioration in his mental health and exacerbated his anti-social behaviour.

"He is genuinely shocked and extremely remorseful that he behaved in this manner to both members of the public and the police.

"He wants help.”

The judge, Recorder Andrew Latimer jailed him for 15 months and two weeks, and handed him a new five-year restraining order to keep him away from his parents.