A KNIFEMAN who “terrified” residents with a machete after he was thrown out of a party has been jailed.

Liam Brabham, 25, from Newport, was “off his head” when he brandished the weapon at Medway Close in the Bettws area of the city.

Prosecutor Rosamund Rutter said the defendant was asked to leave his then girlfriend’s house after falling out with guests in the early hours of the morning.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how Brabham returned and threatened residents with the large blade before the police were called on March 10, 2019.

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Miss Rutter said: “When he was arrested by officers he was aggressive and had to be placed in the cage of a police vehicle and put in a spit mask.”

Brabham, of Lambourne Way, Bettws, admitted affray and possessing a knife in a public place on April 19.

South Wales Argus:

The judge ordered that the machete be destroyed (Picture: Crown Prosecution Service)

The prosecutor said the defendant had 20 previous convictions for 40 offences, including two for robbery as well as battery and public disorder.

Judge Michael Fitton QC told Brabham: “You are pretty good at making a bad situation worse.

“You have been brought before the court for a serious matter of affray when you behaved like a thug, brandishing a machete that terrified people in a long running incident.

“One witness described you as being ‘off your face’”.

Ben Waters, mitigating, said the affray incident took place at Brabham’s former partner’s house.

His barrister told the court: “The defendant was asked to leave and he picked up the machete and put it under his dressing gown.

“He was very intoxicated, he has to concede that point and that it was a rather menacing item.

“The defendant accepts he behaved in an unpleasant and threatening way.”

Judge Fitton jailed Brabham for 13 months and told him he would have to pay a victim surcharge upon his release from custody.