AN AXEMAN and his naked friend have been jailed for terrifying his neighbours in a prolonged incident.

Darren Thomas Hartley, 27, attacked his next-door neighbour's door with the axe and Jobey Daniel Dudley Meldrum, 26, stripped naked during the affray in and immediately outside a block of flats in The Groves.

The incident lasted some minutes before police arrived and arrested both.

Another neighbour feared for her safety and that of her children when she saw the noise and actions of the two men, who appeared to be drunk or high on something, said Allan Armbister, prosecuting..

Meldrum was on bail at the time for having a knife in a separate incident.

He told police then he had been intending to "tax" the two men he was confronting in the street.

The Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris warned both their actions could have led to them killing someone.

He told Hartley:"The only proper punishment is immediate custody.

"That kind of behaviour is off the scale.

"You cannot go round to people's houses with an axe."

He jailed him for seven months at York Crown Court.

Meldrum was jailed for 13 months.

Both admitted affray.

Hartley, of Rudston House, Penleys Grove, The Groves, also pleaded guilty to carrying an offensive weapon.

Meldrum, formerly of Layerthorpe, York, also pleaded guilty to carrying a knife.

For Hartley, Neal Kutte said he had been drinking and he didn't get on with his next-door neighbour.

He would not repeat his actions of that night which had been an "isolated incident" which he regretted. .

Hartley had believed that someone had a knife in the next-door flat and thought things would "get nasty". So he had fetched the axe which had been left for a long time with other tools in a communal garden.

For Meldrum, Eddison Flint said he had been drinking heavily before both incidents.

He remembered very little of the flats incident and had only got involved to support his friend.

He had never intended to use the knife he had had with him in the street incident.