21-05-2025
Moment neighbour from hell armed with a samurai sword, axe, and spear, smashes people's doors and windows before dressing in scuba gear for police arrest
A man found armed with a samurai sword, an axe, and a spear smashed through his neighbours doors and windows on a crazed rampage.
Security cameras saw Michael Hockey, 55, dressed in scuba gear after he armed himself to mount a siege at his block of flats in Pontypool, South Wales before setting fire to his own house.
Police were called after Hockey barricaded himself inside the building and when they arrived he was found in scuba-diving gear and breathing apparatus as he held a spear.
Armed officers and a negotiator were called to the siege 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. He has now been jailed for two years and six months.
When officers and firefighters eventually entered Hockey was found in a bath full of water - and had to be tased and blasted with a water hose before his arrest.
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.'
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 - and also found 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 his cannabis 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.
