Moment neighbour smashes flats with axe before donning scuba gear, clutching spear & hiding in bathtub full of water

The Irish Sun

21-05-2025

SHOCKING footage shows the moment a man smashed flats to pieces with an axe in a horror siege.
Michael Hockey, 55, was captured on camera after he armed himself with an axe, spear and samurai sword to mount an out of control attack.
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Michael Hockey, 55, armed with an axe during his rampage
Credit: WNS
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He caused £31,000 of damage in total
Credit: WNS
Video showed a bare-chested Hockey battering in his neighbours' doors and windows with the axe.
A neighbour can be heard desperately pleading with "Mike" to stop the frenzied rampage during the footage to no avail.
Hockey, of Pontypool, Wales, then set fire to his own house in the next bout of chaos.
Cops were called after Hockey barricaded himself inside the building - and arrived to find him in scuba-diving gear and breathing apparatus while holding a spear.
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Armed officers and a negotiator were called to the siege in Pontypool, South Wales, and when they cut the power to his flat he shouted "b*****s" at them.
The court heard Hockey caused £31,000 of damage during the two hour stand-off.
When officers and firefighters eventually entered Hockey was found in a bath full of water.
The crazed attacker had to be tased and blasted with a water hose before his arrest.
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Prosecutor Tom Roberts said in the days leading up to the police siege, Hockey had been "behaving erratically" and "playing loud music."
He said: "He had been ranting and raving and making threats against a neighbour.
"The defendant screamed that he was a traitor and said he was going to tear his face off and kill him."
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He added: "He was described as snarling like a dog and said he was going to shoot him with a bow and arrow."
Mr Roberts said Hockey then began hitting his neighbour's front door with an axe.
"The victim, who has Asperger's, was terrified and was struggling to make sense of what was happening," he said.
"He thought he was going to get into his flat and kill him."
Hockey was sectioned under the Mental Health Act following the incident at the apartments owned by housing association Melin Homes on August 15, 2023.
He said he had been watching TV "when Tarot card readers began communicating with him."
After the arrest, officers found that Hockey had been growing 11 cannabis flats in his apartment.
He was also armed to the teeth with cops finding a whip, a bow and arrow and an old police truncheon.
Hockey admitted arson reckless as to whether life was endangered, affray, cultivating cannabis and criminal damage at Newport Crown Court.
Alice Sykes, defending, said the event that day might have been triggered by a psychotic episode brought on by drug use.
She added that Hockey had shown "genuine remorse".
Judge Matthew Porter-Bryant said it was lucky that no one had been injured or killed and commended the emergency services for their actions.
"Thankfully, only time and money was lost here," he added.
Hockey of Sebastopol, Pontypool was jailed for two years and six months.