A BURGLAR who a year earlier was arrested for brandishing a machete in a Carlisle street broke into an unoccupied Carlisle flat, stealing jewellery and medication.

A year before he burgled the woman's home as she was staying elsewhere, 27-year-old Dylan Barnes was seen striding along a residential city street armed with the weapon, waving it around and  “slicing” it through the air.

He later admitted burglary, possessing the Class B drug amphetamine, and illegally possessing a bladed article in a public place.

At Carlisle Crown Court, prosecutor Verity Quaite outlined the offences, beginning with the weapon possession on April 9 last year, when Barnes was seen with the machete on Priory Road, walking towards Dowbeck Road.

“One witness described him walking along the road with it like it was a carrier bag,” said the prosecutor. “Another witness said he was crossing the road, waving and slicing the machete in the air.

"He was also shouting at a male who lives at the end of Dowbeck Road.” The defendant also lives on that street, said Miss Quaite.

When police found Barnes he had a injury above his right eye, which was dripping blood. At the house where he lives with his mother, he volunteered to show the officers where the weapon was.

Two machetes were found in the house.

When the officers interviewed him, Barnes responded mostly with “no comment” replies, though he claimed never to have heard of a male he shouted at on Dowbeck Road.

Miss Quaite then outlined the burglary, committed in Newlaithes Avenue, Carlisle, on April 13 this year.

With the victim temporarily having moved out two weeks earlier so repairs could be done, a neighbour became suspicious when, looking out of his window, he saw the defendant breaking into his neighbour’s ground floor flat.

After prising open a window, Barnes stood on a deck chair and clambered inside. The neighbour alerted the police, who attended soon after, said Miss Quaite.

The officers found Barnes in the flat.

Appearing nervous, he claimed he was waiting for a friend and said he had had permission to go into the flat, though he was unable to give name of the flat’s owner.

He was carrying a balaclava.

It was later confirmed that there had been searches of drawers in the kitchen and a bedside table. The flat’s owner said Barnes had no permission to be in the flat.

“She said the incident made her feel unsafe,” said Miss Quaite.

“She dreads to think what might have happened if she had been in the flat. Her privacy has been invaded and it’s made her feel very uncomfortable.”

Mark Shepherd, for Barnes, said the defendant was "remarkably candid" about the machete offence. The defendant had repelled an attacker after a disagreement, and the second machete was from the male he had disarmed.

Mr Shepherd said Barnes had struggled with both his physical and mental health, and at the time of the burglary he had spiralled into drug addiction.

Referring to the machete incident, the lawyer said: “He recognised that his conduct will give the court great concern. But he does not have any previous convictions for weapons offences.

“That suggests that this is something that is out of character for him.”

The lawyer suggested that a reference the defendant made to a woman who lived near to the burglary victim when police questioned him showed his confusion, and underlined the extent of his addiction.

The background included the loss of the defendant’s grandfather, to whom he had been close as well as a cancer diagnosis for his mother.

Mr Shepherd added: “He's now completely clean from drugs and he's looking forward to returning to his family and not returning to his negative associates. I submit there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”

Judge Garrett Byrne said it has been fortunate that the burglary victim was not at the flat when he broke in. “You were caught red handed, and actually had a balaclava with you,” pointed out the judge.

But Judge Byrne accepted that Barnes was “genuinely remorseful” and a previous eight year gap in his offending had shown he can remain offence free. The judge also accepted that Barnes had faced challenges and was at his “lowest ebb” when the committed the offences.

He told the defendant: “I am going to take an exceptional course; I will suspend the sentence and give you the benefit of the doubt. I think there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in your case.”

He imposed 16 months jail suspended for two years. The sentence includes six months of drug rehabilitation.