The man accused of charging at another pubgoer with an axe has said he used the weapon as a "deterrent", a court heard.

David Perry, of St Margarets Place, Stradishall, near Newmarket, apologised to the victim's family in Ipswich Crown Court while on trial for attempted murder.

"That was not me," he told the court. "I am sorry to his family, sorry to him. That was not me."

The 40-year-old does not deny hitting a man with an axe in the Bell Hotel in Clare, near Sudbury.

After an argument, Perry is shown on CCTV charging at the victim with an axe and planting it on his head.

Arresting officers found beer cans, bottles, several spades, a small pickaxe, a metal pole, a chainsaw, and a hedge trimmer inside his pickup truck, which he uses for his business as a garden landscaper.

He pleaded guilty in April to possession of an offensive weapon on the day in March and to wounding with the intention to do grievous bodily harm, but denied the charge of attempted murder.

On March 19 last year, Perry had been drinking alone for about an hour before the victim came into the pub with two friends.

It is said that Perry became argumentative with the group, and tried to start a fight.

Appearing in court yesterday to give evidence, Perry said he agreed that there was an argument but did not remember what he took exception to in the scuffle.

Others in the pub tried to separate the two who were fighting. The group then forcefully removed him from the pub.

The court heard that after the fight, Perry sat in his pickup truck before remembering that he had plugged his mobile phone to charge inside the pub. When asked how drunk he was at that point on a scale of one to ten, he said "three to four".

He fetched his axe before going back into the pub, saying he was to use the weapon as a "deterrent".

Perry was tearful and added that it was not his intention to kill the victim.

He was later to go to Tesco, in Bury St Edmunds, and tell a cashier that he had made "the worst decision" of his life.

He then did not go home to his wife but instead slept in a lorry park near to the Bury police station.

After his arrest, he was admitted to hospital with bruising around his eye.

The trial continues.