A STUDENT has today (fri) been jailed for attacking a co-worker in the street after a petty argument at work.

Sandeep Brar, 19, of St Peters Road, Southall, admitted wounding Najam Mohammed in Southall Broadway on May 11, following a row between the pair at Wickes in Ealing.

Sending him to a young offenders' institution for eight months, Judge Richard McGregor-Johnson said: "This was a pre-meditated assault with a weapon in the street.

“After a trivial argument at work you decided to arm yourself with some sort of metallic weapon, and you did so because you were angry with this security guard and you formed the view that if you saw him you were going to attack him.

"The wider public interest is to make it clear that people who use violence in the street with a weapon, face custodial sentences to deter others from doing the same.”

The pair had a dispute two days earlier, said prosecutor Douglas Adams.

He said: "Mr Mohammed was adjusting a security camera when the defendant asked why, and swore at him. A colleague couldn't believe he was speaking to him in that fashion and Mr Mohammed told the duty manager".

On the Sunday, Mr Mohammed was about to board a bus in Southall "when he realised he had been hit on the back of his head. He put his hand up and felt blood. He had a small laceration which was later stitched at Ealing Hospital". said Mr Adams.

Brar was arrested and questioned and told police "I was angry with the security guard and decided to attack him if I saw him. I had seen him at the bus stop before".

His solicitor, James Palfrey, said the weapon was a piece of wood but the judge did not accept that, quoting a witness who said it was something metallic.

Mr Palfrey said Brar had brought shame on himself and his family and he had a university place and a custodial sentence could wreck his career, as he had not been in trouble before.