A MOTORIST had his back window busted with a wooden stave and was threatened with a samurai sword in two terrifying attacks within minutes of each other, a court heard.

Irfan Afzal produced the weapon after one of his friends, in their own car, signalled for the driver to pull over in Railway Street, Nelson, Burnley Crown Court was told.

And while the motorist was able to flee a short distance, Asim Hussain managed to swerve in front of his car, in his own Vauxhall Vectra, and blocked his path.

Afzal, this time armed with a samurai sword, and another friend, Faisal Ali, brandishing the wooden stick, then approached the victim’s car again.

He told the driver, ‘I’m going to kill you’ and laughed at him as he tried to make attempts to put the car in reverse and escape.

Moments later he was able to pull away and alerted a friend nearby. Part of the Vectra’s registration number was taken down.

Prosecutor Sara Dodd said that an eyewitness had also seen the earlier incident, when Afzal was seen wearing what appeared to be a balaclava.

Town centre CCTV footage would also later verify parts of the incidents. Later Insp Paul Leigh was driving along Wood Street in Brierfield when he spotted a Vectra, matching the description of the car involved in the attacks.

Hussain was seen to get into the car and drive to nearby Hartington Street. He tried to flee from the property shortly afterwards but was detained by police. Ms Dodd said a fingerprint matching Afzal’s was found on the samurai sword and he was arrested, along with Ali.

The court heard there had been a feud between the victim and the family of Faisal Ali after the former had given evidence in an assault case involving a relative of the latter.

Jailing Afzal for 15 months, Judge Beverley Lunt said: “This was a disgraceful and violent incident.”

Afzal, 24, of Brierfield Avenue, Ali, 20, of Castle Street and Hussain, of Hartington Street, all Brierfield, each admitted affray. Ali and Hussain were each given suspended prison sentences, for 12 months and 10 months respectively.

Philip Holden, for Ali, said his client, whose family run a chain of groceries, hoped to put the incident behind him and qualify as an estate agent. Afzal, a taxi driver, had ‘grown up’ since the offences.

The feud between the families had now been settled. Richard Taylor, for Hussain, said the defendant, who had not got out of the car at any point, accepted he had been ‘stupid and immature’.