A JUDGE took a swipe at modern society after hearing how no-one flinched when a man wandered into a residential street brandishing a samurai sword and another blade.

Not one person who had gathered outside called the police when they saw Tony Gaffney with the weapons outside his house in South Bank, Middlesbrough, at 12.40am.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the large crowd considered the potentially-frightening incident as "a source of evening entertainment" and "a bit of a laugh".

Gaffney was given a suspended prison sentence with Probation Service supervision and was ordered to undergo a problem-solving course by Recorder Peter Johnson.

The judge told him: "It is perhaps an interesting comment about society today, or society in South Bank, that no-one appears to have been frightened or running away from what you were doing."

Armed police were called to King Street by a householder who saw the crowd gather, and 23-year-old Gaffney was said to have surrendered "meekly" to officers.

In interview, he made no comment, but it later emerged that Gaffney armed himself after "a local bully" had come onto his property - months after the house had been burgled.

Graham Brown, mitigating, said: "He dealt with it in a very bad way which has brought him back into the court system and put him at risk of losing his liberty.

"It was a naive response on his behalf. Rather than picking up the phone and calling the police to allow them to assist the household, he tried to deal with it himself."

Mr Brown told the court that Gaffney had been in trouble with the police as a youth, but had not been convicted for five years, and was "appalled" by his conduct.

"In light of what had happened in the preceding months, he went outside because he didn't want his family to have any more aggravation," the lawyer told Mr Recorder Johnson.

"He was not targeting his distress at anyone living locally. There is no-one in that area saying they were frightened. Everyone knows he is a family-orientated young man.

"For them, it was as much, regrettably, a source of evening entertainment. They found it a bit of a laugh and stood nearby."

Gafney, who admitted two charges of possessing a bladed article on June 3, was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months with 18 months of supervision.