A MAN shouted threats to kill at a pair of brothers in a street altercation before returning armed with a large piece of wood, a court heard.

Gary Shepherd was said to have had a chance encounter with the two brothers outside a Barrow pub, with whom he shared animosity.

He shouted: ‘I’m going to kill you’ at the brothers and hit one their cars with the three foot stick.

Shepherd was spared jail after pleading guilty to a public order offence at South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court.

The court was told he used threatening and abusive words towards David and Alan Harris outside the Blue Lamp pub in Barrow’s Rawlinson Street.

He had seen the pair after leaving the pub to smoke a cigarette.

The court was told Shepherd, 44, had been in a relationship with one of the brothers’ daughters.

His solicitor said the defendant knew he had made an ‘extremely stupid’ decision to pick up the piece of wood.

Prosecutor Peter Kelly said: “At around 5pm on June 18 the defendant has run into the Harris brothers, David and Alan.

“The brothers were driving in opposite directions and stopped to have a conversation.

“Whilst they were having a conversation the defendant has noticed them and shouted at Alan Harris.

“He said ‘I’m going to kill you’, ‘I’m going to batter him’, ‘I’m going to smash your windows’.”

The court heard he was then seen to go away before approaching the men again.

He had picked up a large stick from a nearby alleyway.

Mr Kelly said he hit one of the cars on the wheel.

Shepherd was said to have told police the men were shouting back at him, with one of them having a baseball bat in his car.

“None of this is accepted by the Crown,” Mr Kelly said.

In mitigation Karen Templeton told the court: “He accepts he’s in the wrong.

“He does accept he didn’t tell the entire story in the police interview.

“He had gone out for a cigarette and by chance he had come across the Harris brothers.

“He was in a relationship with one of their daughters.

“There have been previous problems.

“They were shouting stuff back at him.

“He did what he realises was an extremely stupid decision to go to the alleyway behind and pick up this stick.

“He certainly regrets it.

“He’s genuinely sorry about what happened.”

She said Shepherd had struggled with alcohol dependency and was seeking help for his problems.

Magistrates sentenced Shepherd, of Dumfries Street in Barrow, to a prison sentence of four weeks - suspended for a year.

He was also told to pay a victim surcharge of £128.