Robbers sent to jail for attacking Indian shopkeeper in UK

Two attackers who robbed a store run by an Indian-origin family in northern England have been sentenced to nearly six years in prison.
Bhavin Patel, whose family runs the PN'k convenience store in Bradford, was left with a permanently injured right hand in the struggle with the raiders on June 15.
"You offer a very vital service to the community," Judge Jonathan Durham Hall told 30-year-old Patel as he sentenced the attackers - Lee Thompson and Jonathan Simpson.
The attackers were sentenced to five years and nine months each by the Bradford Crown Court yesterday.
Thompson attacked Patel with a knife while Simpson stole looted the cash register.

The duo had pleaded guilty to robbery and Thompson also admitted criminal damage after hurling bottles of stolen spirits at police officer Stephen Hepworth's car as he pursued him after the crime.

"The knife didn't look real at first but when it was coming at me in a stabbing motion I grabbed the blade and I felt the cold steel - then I knew it was real," said Patel, a keen cricketer.
The attack left Patel with severe injuries, affecting his playing ability.
"Both Thompson and Simpson chose to commit a violent, planned robbery against a hard-working victim who was simply doing his job," Detective Constable Dean Smith of Bradford Police.

"The sentences given today show how seriously this type of crime is viewed by police and the courts and should serve as a firm warning to others thinking of committing such offences; if you do, you will go to prison," he said.