A mystery feud led to a terrifying midday stand-off in the street by two men armed with a meat cleaver and crowbar.
Scared neighbours looked on as Steve Gunson, 30, and dad-of-two Peter Wood, 27, shouted threats at each other in the Salford street.
Police arrived to see their cars rammed together and the men at loggerheads - in front of a crowd of 20 onlookers.
But the pair have maintained a wall of silence meaning the real reason for the face-off remains a murky mystery.
Manchester Crown Court heard that police were called at 12.30pm on May 19 last year.
Wood, had a meat cleaver and Gunson - previously caught with a samurai sword and a crossbow - had a crowbar.
Police arrested the pair before the situation could escalate and both men admitted possession of a blade. But their mystery confrontation had prosecutors stumped.
Prosecuting, Neil Nehra said: “It’s somewhat unclear what instigated this incident. It seems each was blaming the other.”
The first police saw of the scene was a Citroen Picasso and a grey van wedged together - with the crowd looking on. Both vehicles were damaged.
Gunson was standing by the van wielding a huge crowbar, which he placed under the van on seeing police. Officers found the meat cleaver in Wood’s car. When questioned, he maintained he used it to chop up meat for his dog.
Defending Gunson, John Kennerley said his client was on a daily diet of cocaine, diazapam and eight cans of lager, and was ‘not thinking properly’.
Gunson, who also admitted theft after burgling a car while on bail, had been on remand for a month and was jailed for one day suspended for two years, and given a 15-month supervision order.
Sentencing Wood to six months’ jail suspended for a year, Judge Richard Mansell said: “I reject entirely your claim that you carry this cleaver to chop up food for your dog. I do accept that what ever was going on between you two caused you to behave out of character.”
Judge Mansell added that their fate could have been worse if more was known about the incident. He ordered the forfeiture of the weapons.
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