Gainsborough street football axe wielder Thomas Conway jailed
A man who wielded an axe at a group of people playing football outside his house has been jailed.
Thomas Conway, 31, lost his temper and went outside his home in High Street, Gainsborough, with a curved axe behind his back.
Lincoln Crown Court was told he then made a slashing movement saying "I'm going to slash you up".
Conway, who had a previous conviction for producing a machete in the street, was sentenced to 15 months.
The court heard that during the incident he first went outside without a weapon and was dragged inside by his girlfriend.
'Waved it about'
He told the court he felt like "a prisoner in his home" and went outside a second time with an axe at about 22:00 GMT.
He also admitted having consumed one and a half litres of cider.
Conway had 12 previous convictions for 25 offences, including a previous sentence in 2011 when he produced a machete in the street.
Daniel Bishop, mitigating, said Conway had a problem with alcohol but wanted to apologise to the court for his actions.
Mr Bishop added: "He wants to train to be a mechanic. He loves cars, he loves bikes and that is what he is hoping to do."
Conway, formerly of High Street, Gainsborough, but who now lives in Fitzwilliam Road, Rotherham, admitted charges of affray and possessing a bladed article following the incident in June last year.
Judge Michael Heath made a destruction order for the axe and told Conway: "You waved it about. The people who were there were frightened, not surprisingly."
"The facts of the 2011 matter are strikingly similar to the 2013 offence, except on that occasion you produced a machete," he added.