Axe-wielding thug avoids jail after street attack

Colton Joe Fieldhouse, 25, hit the man several times with the blunt side of the foot-long hatchet, which saved him from an immediate custodial sentence, the judge at Leeds Crown Court said.

Prosecutor Jon Harley said that Fieldhouse had been in a relationship with a woman for over three years, but he did not get on with her father.

At around midday on April 16, 2019, the father had been walking along Sycamore Avenue in Knottingley when he "felt a whack" from behind.

He turned around and saw Fieldhouse standing there with the axe in his right hand. The victim said the blade on the weapon measured around 4" x 6".

Fieldhouse then told the man, who had undergone a liver transplant: "I'm going to cut that out of you, you don't deserve it."

Fieldhouse then hit him several times on the arm as the victim tried to block him.

However, he did connect with the man's stomach and his knee, and when he tried to flee he felt a blow to the back of his head leaving him dazed.

Fieldhouse then got in a red Audi driven by another man and fled.

The man suffered cuts to his knee, stomach and waist, and a lump on his head, but did not need hospital treatment.

Fieldhouse had denied the offence, but on the day of his trial he admitted to causing actual bodily harm and possessing an offensive weapon.

He denied a charge of attempted grievous bodily harm, which was not pursued by the Crown.

Fieldhouse, of no fixed address, has six convictions for nine offences, including assaulting an emergency worker last year.

A probation report found that Fieldhouse, a father of three, was open an honest and was remorseful for his actions.

He was a cannabis user but had reduced his intake and was working with Turning Point, the Wakefield-based therapy group.

Judge Penelope Belcher jailed him for 46 weeks, but chose to suspend the sentence for 18 months, telling him that several factors had kept him from going to prison straight away.

This included the length of time since the offence and his attempts to turn his life around, and that he did not use the blade of the axe during the assault.

She said: "It was a nasty and very frightening incident. You were wielding an axe.

"You did not strike him with the blade of the axe.

"If you had caused him serious injury, you would have gone straight to custody.

"You have started to grow up and showed motivation to change.

"You say you are turning your life around, but that's up to you."

She handed him 150 hours of unpaid work and warned him that if he breached the terms he would be brought back before her.