A CARLISLE man who took a claw hammer to a local pub has been jailed.

Matthew Neale, 46, had initially denied any wrongdoing, claiming he had a legal excuse for taking the hammer to Woodrow Wilsons in Botchergate but he changed his plea to guilty on the day he was due to face a trial.

The defendant, of East Norfolk Street, Denton Holme, also admitted causing criminal damage to a custody cell at the city’s Durranhill Police HQ.

Prosecutor Andy Travis told the city’s Riclergate Magistrates’ Court that Neale committed the offence on Sunday, July   24. CCTV images showed him pulling the claw hammer from a bag and holding it by the head as he jabbed it, though nobody appeared to notice that he was doing this.

He committed the criminal damage offence after he was arrested, soiling a custody area cell and making it necessary for it to be professionally cleaned.

Neale was jailed for six months.