A DRUNKEN dad armed himself with a knife to exact revenge for a beating after a row with his neighbour about noise.

Mattew Howell was beaten up after he remonstrated with his neighbours about noise coming from the flat below his in Barbourne, Worcester.

Worcester Crown Court heard he suffered a chipped tooth and other injuries to his face including a black eye although claims the bruises corresponded to a 'boot mark' were not supported by a scenes of crime officer.

After he was injured the 26-year-old returned to his flat 'covered in blood' and laid out an assortment of blades on his bed, including a Samurai sword with a 26 inch blade.

The former care home worker armed himself with a serrated kitchen knife before heading downstairs to confront the men who had beaten him up.

There he was seen banging on the door and shouting 'let me in!' for some minutes. Howell was also heard to shout ‘I’m going to rip you to pieces!', ‘I’m going to kill you! and 'I have lived here longer than you!'

When police arrived at around 1am he refused to drop the kitchen knife which he held behind his back. He had to be subdued with PAVA spray, a chemical spray used to incapacitate.

Howell, of Raglan Street, was jailed for eight months after earlier admitting possession of a bladed article in a public place.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright said: “I’m confident in saying that the facts of this case would correspond very closely with the facts of many past offences of murder and or manslaughter and or wounding resulting in life-changing or life-threatening injuries.

“Just this sort of incident and circumstances provide the backdrop to many a very, very serious offence of violence or homicide. That is why the possession of knives is always regarded as so very serious.”

Nicholas Berry, prosecuting, said police found Howell kneeling in front of the door with a serrated kitchen knife in his hand and shouted at him to drop the knife.

Mr Berry said there had been an earlier ‘fracas’ inside the flats and that Howell had come off worse. When officers searched Howell’s room they found another kitchen knife and a Samurai sword laid out on his bed.

“During the course of the disturbance, in the later stages, he had returned to the property covered in blood and placed three knives on the bed, selected a knife before returning back downstairs" said Mr Berry.

Howell was described by Mr Berry was ‘extremely drunk.’

He had been out drinking all afternoon before returning to his flat at around midnight.

Howell told the court he now bore the people who had injured him ‘no ill-will’. He had lived at the flat, owned by his mother, for 15 years.

The court heard that Howell had struggled to come to terms with a family matter.

Judith Kenney, defending, said her client had some mental health issues and supplied photographs of his injuries which she described as 'considerable'.

Miss Kenney said it was her belief her client had been left concussed before the incident on June 9.

She said: “He’s very well aware of the view about anything to do with knives.”

The court also heard he has previous convictions for assaulting a police officer and resisting a constable in September 2012.

Judge Cartwright said it was a serious aggravating feature that Howell was very intoxicated as there was a higher risk that the knife could have been used.

He said the blade he had produced was serrated, tapered, of considerable length and 'capable of inflicting very serious, if not fatal injuries'.

The judge told Howell that 'plainly you had been beaten up' but said he made the choice to introduce the knife to the argument.

Judge Cartwright added: “There was nothing spontaneous about it. It was planned. You were plainly determined because when police turned up and told you to surrender the item you didn’t and had to be subdued with a chemical spray by the police.”