A MAN had downed five litres of cider when he threatened to “blast” police officers in a public stand-off on Bradford’s Holme Wood Estate.

Andrew Hardy ran into the street with a large kitchen knife before smashing his flat window with his head and throwing bits of glass at the police.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the late-night incident lasted an hour and attracted a group of spectators on Fontmell Close at 10.30pm on August 26, 2020.

Hardy, 28, now of Mavis Avenue, Scout Hill, Dewsbury, pleaded guilty to affray and having a kitchen knife in a public place.Prosecutor Tom Storey said he had 17 previous convictions for 32 offences, including robbery, disorderly behaviour, burglary, criminal damage and causing death by careless driving.

Mr Storey said that a neighbour alerted a resident late at night that his bins had been set on fire. The fire service was called to the blaze and there was no evidence as to what caused it. Hardy then ran out of his flat brandishing a kitchen knife. Eye-witnesses described him being “out of his tree, high as a kite.”

He dashed down a ginnel and then went back inside his home.

The police were called and he stood at a window threatening to “blast” them.

“I’ll kill the first copper that comes through the door,” he threatened.

Mr Storey said residents gathered in the street to watch events unfold.

The police feared Hardy might have a firearm and called for support. He then smashed his flat window with his forehead and threw broken shards at the police before suddenly running out of the door towards the spectators.

He was tasered, restrained and taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary after suffering cuts, grazes and injuries from the taser.

He spat in the ambulance on the way to hospital, the court heard.

Abdul Shakoor conceded in mitigation that Hardy was “staring down the barrel of immediate custody.” But he had made positive steps to ensure there was a very strong prospect of rehabilitation.

Recorder Simon Jackson QC said Hardy had a bad criminal record for a variety of offences.

People must have been terrified to see him running around with a large kitchen knife.

But a psychiatric report diagnosed depression and PTSD and recommended counselling.

Hardy was jailed for eight months, suspended for two years, with 150 hours of unpaid work and 40 rehabilitation activity days to support him in the community.