A court heard Ashley Dickens, 37, of Wykeham Street, escaped a prison sentence after pleading guilty to having an offensive weapon in public, threatening to kill and damaging property.

York Crown Court heard how Dickens first threatened to stab another dog walker in the back before threatening to cut his head off and kill his family. Rob Galley, prosecuting, told how Dickens came to blows with Clint Bailey after the latter allowed his dogs to run off their leads.

The animals had attacked Dickens' dog in the past. This incident was never reported, but, on the morning of March 24, Dickens was walking his family pet with his 10- year-old son when he came across Mr Bailey and his dogs.

Dickens shouted: "Get those dogs on a lead" and, as the two men stood face-to-face on spare land close to Sainsbury's supermarket, added, "Back off now or you'll get this knife in your back."

Although no weapon was seen, Mr Bailey, fearful for the safety of his wife and daughter, followed police advice and locked his family in their home. Officers then found Dickens nearby, disposing in undergrowth what later turned out to be an 18-inch wood axe.

On his arrest, Dickens told police that he was "only doing what the Vikings did" and that he had considered using a Samurai sword.

He was then found to have inscribed his nickname and a swastika on a cell bench. Andrew Semple, mitigating, said Dickens had acted completely out of character and had "gone over the top".

Dickens, who denies anything to do with the Far Right or neo-Nazis, was told by Judge Stephen Ashurst that Dickens' son, who has a medical problem, needed him at home rather than in Hull Prison.

He sentenced Dickens to nine months' custody suspended for 24 months and placed him on a 12-month supervision order with a requirement that he attend a programme to help with confrontational problems.

Dickens was also placed under an exclusion order barring him from the street and surrounding area where the Bailey family live.