A BLOODSTAINED man with a cricket bat chased his brother along a major road leading out of York in broad daylight, magistrates heard.

Two passing drivers were so alarmed by the two Wharton brothers running on the A1079 at Kexby that they called police, said Hilary Reece, prosecuting.

One driver later told police he "feared for the safety of the two men because there must have been a serious incident and because the defendant was running down the street with a machete, he feared for himself," said Ms Reece.

The brother with the cricket bat had blood on his ribs and was bare-chested as he stopped the traffic so he could get across the road at about 5.45pm on August 21.

Thirty to forty yards ahead of him was Craig Wharton, 27, who was looking over his shoulder, worried, at his brother.

Wharton, of Dane Avenue, Acomb, denied carrying a machete in public but was convicted at a trial. He was given a community order with a three-month nightly curfew from 8pm to 7am, two years' supervision and a rehabilitation programme and ordered to pay £250 prosecution costs and a £60 statutory surcharge.

Mr Blount said the man with the cricket bat had not been charged with an offence. "The police took the view because it was a cricket bat they couldn't disprove whether he had it for a lawful purpose as he was pursuing the defendant down the road," said the solicitor.

The chaser had been Wharton's older brother, who had attacked Craig Wharton and set about him in a house, the court was told.

The defence solicitor said Craig Wharton, the younger brother, had run out of the house and picked up the first thing to hand, which "happened to be" the machete. He had been hoping to get his brother to back off.

"No-one is suggesting the knife was used," said Mr Blount.

Wharton suffered from a collapsed disc and was receiving medical treatment. He had feared that if his brother caught up with him he would never walk again, but had managed to shake off his brother in a field near Kexby.