A MAN said to have terrorised a group of schoolchildren by brandishing a Samurai sword in a Great Harwood Street, is awaiting sentence.

James Anthony Ford, 39, was found guilty of having an offensive weapon after a three-day trial at Burnley Crown Court.

The defendant, then of Church Street, Great Harwood and now of Cherry Tree Lodge, Islington, Blackburn, was cleared of an allegation of affray.

Ford had denied both charges.

He was bailed until August 8 for a pre-sentence report by Judge Barbara Watson.

The jury had heard claims 'angry' Ford had waved the weapon around on Church Street, intending to hurt someone, as he approached a teenager and her group of friends.

Police, alerted by the father of one of the gang, found a scabbard, said to have fitted the sword, on the settee when they searched the defendant's house.

They then allegedly discovered the weapon hidden in a downstairs cupboard.

The court heard that after Ford was arrested he said he had been to a funeral, had had drink and found a youth, whom he suspected of damaging his front door, outside his property.

The defendant told officers the sword had been in the scabbard. He said at no time did he take it out of its cover or threaten the teenagers with it.