Landlord appeals against attack conviction

Two men jailed for attacking two tenants have won the right to fight their conviction at the Court of Appeal.

Just over a year ago Mohammed Nazir, now 47, was jailed for five years with his nephew Sultan Mahmood, 37 for causing grievous bodily harm in an incident in Bolton.

Mahmood, a solicitor, was renting out a property to two men who suffered head injuries caused by a weapon.

The pair have won the right to fight the convictions after three judges at the Court of Appeal granted them permission to appeal to the full court as they have arguable grounds on which the court might decide the verdicts should be quashed.

The prosecution alleged Mahmood and Nazir were armed with either a house brick or knuckle duster and attacked the two tenants after an argument on the phone.

Now Lord Justice Jack Beatson says he and other judges are satisfied that it is arguable that the recorder's direction on joint enterprise is arguably flawed, because it does not contain a direction on the need for the jury to be sure that both defendants intended really serious harm to the complainants.

Additionally, Lord Justice Beatson says that given the complexity of the case it is possible that the summing up gave the jury insufficient assistance as to which defendant struck which complainant and who was the principal and who was the assister.