A man who stormed into a pub brandishing a fearsome Ghurkha knife after a day drinking called the police and waited outside so he wouldn’t break the smoking ban.

Matthew Harris had returned to the bar following a row with his girlfriend and her family during a wake for her cousin.

But when the 27-year-old got back to The Kingfisher in Chippenham with the giant machete they had all left the establishment.

After demanding a light and then a drink he then ordered the remaining drinkers and landlord Steve Cole and his wife Penny to leave the pub before damaging chairs with the large knife.

The frightened landlord and his wife hid in the cellar Harris then called the police to tell them he was doing something stupid and went outside to wait for them to arrive.

Rachael Marshall, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how the incident took place on the evening of Wednesday July 14.

She said Harris had been at the pub on Hungerdown Lane with his girlfriend Donna and her family the days after the funeral of her cousin.

At about 10pm Miss Marshal said the couple had an argument and the defendant was slapped in the face by his partner.

He told her he would knock her head off if she punched him again and one of her relatives intervened and the two men fought outside the pub.

Harris then went to his nearby home and returned shortly after with the large knife which he kept in the garage.

After walking into the bar and seeing his girlfriend and family had left he first told bar staff he needed a light and then a drink.

He then used the knife to attack two chairs and told the other customers and staff to get out and called the police from the pub’s payphone.

When he was arrested he told the police that he had armed himself with the knife with a view to stabbing someone.

Harris, of Clover Dean, Chippenham, pleaded guilty to affray, criminal damage and possessing an offensive weapon.

Marcus Davey, defending, said his client was not a violent man and was very sorry for what he had done.

Since the incident he said he had resumed his relationship with his partner, with whom he has a child, and is also reconciled with her relation he fought with.

He said that although he had told the police he wanted to stab the man he did not threaten anyone in the pub when he arrived.

“He put the knife on the bar and went outside, bizarrely because he didn’t want to break the smoking ban, and in event put an end to the actions he had begun,” he said.

Jailing him for 15 months Judge Douglas Field said “The courts these days treat offences involving knives very seriously.

“I am encouraged first to have account of the bladed article: this is a wicked looking Ghurkha knife that is potentially very dangerous indeed.

“I also have to have regard to your intentions while having it. You told the police you intended to confront this man you have been fighting with and you were drunk.

“All these are aggravating circumstances and they add up to a situation where the public interest means you need to be sent to prison.”

Mr Cole, 41, said after the incident: “We locked ourselves down there to get out of the way. We called the police and we were also on the phone to the lads outside, who were telling us what was going on.

“We were in the cellar, and then went through another door to the garage, so we had no idea what was going on.

“We were sort of blind down there, and they were telling us on the phone when it was safe to come out.

“I understand it wasn’t us he was after, but it was quite worrying at the time.”