Axeman '˜terror' for workers in city street

Dean Wilkinson, 29, was shouting and swearing as passers-by and workers heard him and saw him hanging out of his then home, armed with the weapon.

Wilkinson, now of Dalton Square, Lancaster, admits affray after the incident on June 27 last year, but avoided and immediate jail term after the court heard another man had first approached his home with a large knife.

Preston Crown Court heard an office worker had heard shouting outside her workplace on High Street, Lancaster.

Prosecuting, Richard Bennett said: “She looked out of her office window and saw this defendant inside his home address, also on High Street, leaning out of a window waving his arms.

“He began to climb out of the window and she noticed he was holding a large axe. As he was leaning out of the window he was shouting: ‘I’m going to kill you, come back now’.

He added: “Another witness saw the same events from a different perspective. she saw another man approaching the premises and he was holding a large knife and it was apparently that which sparked this defendant’s reaction with the axe.”

The other man has since been jailed for 20 weeks after admitting affray, the court was told.

Defending, Joseph Hart accepted he had a poor cirminal record but said the fact he did not go on to chase him showed a change in his thinking.

Recorder Abigail Hudson imposed a six-month jail sentence suspended for 24 months.

She accepted he had been provoked and added: “No doubt it was intimidating. Instead of calling the police as you should have, you started climbing out of the window.

“Your neighbour was obviously scared by your actions, you caused members of public who live in that street to be afraid in their own homes on their own street.

“Your actions may have been aimed at him but the impact was on those around you.”