A MAN who ran through the streets with a machete was spared jail after a judge said: "It was yob chasing yob."

Ashley Turner armed himself during a long-running family feud in Consett, County Durham, a court was told.

He turned up at a house in Derby Drive demanding to see his rival, and ran after him when he fled out the back door.

Turner's intended victim jumped in a passing car - driven by his grandfather - and headed for the town's police station.

Teesside Crown Court was told that the teenager's family had "caused a lot of problems" and been rehoused.

Turner, 21, was said by his barrister Aisha Wadoodi to have retaliated in a "tit-for-tat" dispute on August 12 last year.

Miss Wadoodi said: "There have been no repercussions, which is the type of thing, with warring families, which concern the court."

Turner was given a community order with 110 hours of unpaid work and £100 costs after he admitted having a bladed article.

Judge John Walford told him: "In the same way you would have unnerved an innocent bystander, and upset the community you are now going to have the chance to put something back into the community for the good of others.

"Anyone who was unfortunate enough to have seen this will think 'has public order completely broken down if yobs can chase yobs with weapons?'.

"To run through the streets armed with a weapon, even when chasing a menace, is the height of lawlessness."

Prosecutor Shaun Dodds told the court that Turner, of Derby Drive, Consett, has a previous conviction for racially-aggravated public disorder.

He said the machete - which was about a foot-and-a-half long - was never found.