TWO men are facing lengthy prison sentences after being convicted of a machete attack which left their victim with a fractured skull and head wounds.

Michael Herron, 26, and Ross Patterson, 23, were found guilty of aggravated burglary and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

A third man, Warren Oughton, 23, was cleared of the same charges by a jury at the end of a Teesside Crown Court trial which has lasted three weeks.

Herron, of Dean Road, Ferryhill, County Durham, and Patterson, of Opal Avenue, in nearby Chilton, were remanded in custody and will be sentenced next month.

The victim was hacked with a machete when a long-running family feud erupted into "devastating and savage" violence, the court heard during the trial.

The man suffered a fractured skull, scalp wound and cuts to his shoulders, arm and hand after a gang burst into his home in Spennymoor, County Durham.

The jury heard that he jumped out of a bathroom window semi-naked to escape his attackers - who struck at night while two children were there.

Herron was said to have been the one with the fearsome knife while Patterson was laughing on the stairs and a third acted as a look-out at the front door.

Mr Oughton, of Horse Close Lane, Trimdon, said he had been at home drinking with his girlfriend, and had been nowhere near Spennymoor that night.

Blood containing DNA from the victim was found in the back of Patterson's Volkswagen Golf, which was said by witnesses to have been at the scene.

The victim was in the bath with his partner when the men burst in at about 11pm on May 10 and attacked him, before causing damage and smashing up his car.