A DAD ‘completely lost his mind’ and waved two axes around outside after his wife of a decade announced she was leaving him for another man, a court heard.

David Coleman, 40, had received the devastating news ‘out of the blue’ at a barbecue the evening before.

The next day, after a night drinking, he wielded the two blades in front of her ‘in or about’ the garden when Leanne Coleman returned to the family home for some belongings after spending the night with her new boyfriend.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Coleman was arrested after frightened neighbours heard shouting on the street at 11.30am and saw him with a large axe and a smaller one. He complied with officers immediately when ordered to put the axes down.

The hearing was told how when questioned, the defendant told police: “It was like a kick in the teeth, the fact that she stayed at her boyfriend’s house and came back to the matrimonial home.”

The defendant, of Park Avenue, Great Harwood, had admitted affray and possessing a blade article in public and had been committed for sentence by magistrates.

Coleman, who had no previous convictions, was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, with 18 months’ supervision and 100 hours unpaid work.

Tom Lord, prosecuting, said on June 22, police went to Park Avenue with firearms authority, after reports of a man waving an axe around.

Neighbours had seen Coleman holding a small axe. The Colemans were shouting and the defendant then got a large axe from the shed. The rowing continued and the defendant waved the axes.

Darren Lee-Smith, defending, said: “He was not threatening to cause injury. He was simply waving the axes around. In his words, he completely lost his mind.”

Passing sentence, Judge Ian Leeming, QC, said Coleman was extremely upset by what his wife told him. But, he told the defendant: “You reacted in a totally unacceptable way.”