Blood was spilled when a man with a sword and an axe-wielding neighbour confronted each other in a dispute that “got out of hand” in a quiet Surrey village.

Elstead witnessed a scene from the middle ages on June 28 as Shaun McMahon and a neighbour had a medieval confrontation in broad daylight on Bankside Close.

Police found blood on the floor and McMahon’s door with the 58-year-old from Birkenhead sustaining a cut to his hand in the “concerning” incident.

But while both men blamed each other CCTV footage was damning with McMahon prompting the incident by taking an axe to his neighbour’s gate.

The talkative McMahon – who described the incident as “one of those mad moments” - was given a suspended sentence after the bizarre case was heard last Friday at Guildford Magistrates Court.

The court heard that police and paramedics initially went to McMahon’s local authority address in Elstead, with the defendant blaming his neighbour for the cut.

But the neighbour responded by saying he left the house with a sword in “self-defence” as McMahon was swinging an axe at his gate and damaging his property.

It was claimed in testimony that McMahon injured his hand by grabbing the blade, with CCTV capturing all of the incident and the damage caused. The decision was made to arrest McMahon with the defendant then subjecting an officer to homophobic abuse.

Mr Castle, for McMahon, said his client of many years has a tendency to “overreact” and claimed the incident was due to a falling out between two otherwise good neighbours who enjoyed a very amicable relationship.

Mr Castle said: “He decided he would take an axe, which he lawfully had, to his neighbour’s gate.

“The noise then altered the neighbour, who decided, understandably, he wanted his gate to remain intact and left the house with a sword.

“There were threats and at one point McMahon raised the axe over his head. Things got totally out of hand.

“Clearly, anybody witnessing it would have been concerned, but it was in an isolated area and nobody else was threatened or upset.”

Mr Castle added that McMahon had also made a counter-appeal against his neighbour, but tensions have eased with his friend later helping out the defendant with care after Shaun came off his bike and was taken to hospital.

He added: “At times he’s fairly animated – Shaun often acts first, thinks later and then realises how stupid he’s been and I think that’s one of those circumstances in this case.”

McMahon was given a one-year sentence, suspended for 18 months, and probation requirement for the same length after admitting to threatening a person with an offensive weapon in public.

McMahon also admitted to using abusive behaviour towards a PC and causing criminal damage.

He was fined £200 for the former charge and ordered to pay a £187 victim surcharge, with no separate penalty being imposed for damaging his neighbour’s gate. His early guilty pleas were also taken into consideration.