A MAN has told how two brothers attacked him with a machete after he asked them to stop driving dangerously on his street.

The 26-year-old was smoking a cigarette in the garden of his home when he saw a Citreon Xsara Picasso doing handbrake turns in the back lane.

He challenged the occupants over their behaviour at which point the driver, Tony Duddin, got out of the vehicle and punched him in the face.

The victim returned into his house and called the police, but when he looked outside Duddin was approaching armed with a machete.

Duddin then began to attack the terrified victim with the blade and was joined by his brother, Ricky.

The man, from Chopwell, who was treated for multiple injuries, said: “The attack was literally out of the blue and was just because he didn’t like the way I was looking at him when he was driving around like an idiot.

“He literally just wanted blood. I thought the worst and I thought he was going to kill me. My mum was just screaming as I was getting hit and I was worried about her.

“They hit me in the head, I just went down and then I was dragged into the street.

“That was the scariest bit. I wasn’t necessarily scared of them, but I was scared of the knife and scared of dying.”

Police later located the Duddin brothers following the attack on December 27, 2016, and they were arrested.

Tony, 25, of Front Street, Craghead, Stanley, and Ricky, 23, of Elm Street, Stanley, both pleaded guilty to wounding with intent.

At Newcastle Crown Court, last month, Tony Duddin, who also admitted unrelated driving offences, was imprisoned for nine years while his brother was jailed for seven years and two months.

Detective Constable Paul Hodge said: “This was a violent attack that could have seen the victim killed. He was standing up for his local community when he challenged Tony Duddin about his driving and it was completely unacceptable for him to be attacked in this way.

“He suffered serious injuries at the hands of these two individuals. The emotional scars that he suffered will stay with him forever. The Duddin brothers are now behind bars where they cannot hurt anyone else.”