ONE of two neighbours involved in a terrifying ‘armed’ early hours showdown involving a baseball bat and machete over loud music, was jailed while his opponent kept his freedom.

Burnley Crown Court heard how joiner and father-of-one Christopher Hoyle, 29, had gone to Jonathon Royal’s parents’ home to complain about his next-door-neighbour's music, just after midnight.

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He then went back to Boundary Street in the town, where both men then lived, and turned up at Royal's flat with a baseball bat.

Royal answered the banging on his door and was said to have had a machete in his hand. The pair shouted at each other and ended up in the street where a 20- minute disturbance followed, partly captured on CCTV.

The hearing was told Hoyle was said to have knocked the machete from his neighbour's hand and picked it up and then had a weapon in each hand.

Royal ran off, chased by his co-defendant and Royal was handed a 3ft long metal pole by two lads who ran up.

Hoyle’s father told police the men then ganged up on his son like ‘a pack of wolves’.

Prosecutor Stephen Parker, who played the CCTV in court, said it was difficult to say exactly who did what in the trouble.

But one thing that was certain was that Royal's mother, a completely innocent party, who tried to be a peacemaker and had come out in her dressing gown, suffered a cut head as she tried to stop the melee.

A house window was smashed and damage was caused to two cars during the incident, Mr Parker said by the time police arrived, Hoyle had been injured and said to an officer: “I have been slashed open."

He was bleeding heavily from his head and was taken to hospital in an ambulance.

Royal and Hoyle were both arrested and questioned and each blamed each other, claiming the other was the aggressor and started the fracas. The court was told Royal was bailed and attacked a man, striking the victim as he pleaded with him to stop.

He was left with two black eyes and a swollen cheek.

Royal, 22, of Fraser Street, and Hoyle, of Briercliffe Road, both Burnley, had each admitted affray on May 22. Royal also pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm. The pair appeared and were sentenced separately.

Royal was locked up for a total of 16 months by Judge Jonathan Gibson, who said he had a substantial number of previous convictions for violence.

Hoyle received eight months in prison, suspended for two years, with 150 hours unpaid work. He must pay £200 costs.

Judge Gibson told the pair: “This was both a disgraceful and no doubt very frightening incident.”