A MAN who swung a machete at his victim ended up in hospital after being "given a beating" with a baseball bat following a dramatic chase.

Liam Jones had been accused by the complainant of stealing drugs from him before the defendant pulled out the “fearsome” weapon.

The pair had been smoking cannabis in a garden shed in Bargoed before the violence flared during a confrontation between the two.

Richard Ace, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court: “The defendant said, why the f*** are you accusing me of that s***?’

“He then pulled out immediately a machete from his clothing.

“Mr Jones then walked towards him and was shouting and waving the machete and he then swung it at him.

“Fortunately the other man was taking a step back at that time.”

The police were called and Jones ran off and jumped over a fence before he was chased by the man and a friend.

The defendant knocked on the door of a 70-year-old woman who was a neighbour of his mother’s and pleaded with her to leave him in.

She described as thinking “she was having a heart attack” at all the commotion outside.

Jones was tackled to the floor and told to release the machete.

Mr Ace added: “The defendant told the man he would get his stuff back but the man said, ‘I don’t give a f*** about that, you’ve just pulled a machete on me!’”

The police arrested Jones shortly after when they found him hiding in bushes.

Mr Ace said: “The defendant told the officers he had shared some cannabis with the man and had taken some for himself.

“He said he had found the machete in some bushes in Bargoed Park and took it for his own protection as he was on the run from the police in case they used some stun guns.”

Jones, 31, of Llancayo Street, Bargoed, pleaded guilty to threatening a person with a bladed article and affray on March 6.

The defendant has 23 previous convictions for 48 offences which include wounding, robbery, burglary and arson.

Kevin Seal, representing Jones, said his client was the victim of “summary justice” after being attacked with a baseball bat following the chase by the two men.

His barrister told the court the defendant had needed hospital treatment “because of the beating he received”.

The judge, Recorder Eugene Egan, told Jones: “You produced a machete and you swung it at another person – mercifully there was no injury.

“I’ve seen the photographs and it was a fearsome looking weapon.”

The defendant was jailed for 12 months.