A “nightmare neighbour” who was carrying a machete and threatened to bomb a resident of the flats where he lived during a row has been jailed for 18 months.

Gregory Atkins had the machete in a sheath hanging from his shoulder under his jacket when he threatened to “slice up” the neighbour’s body and to kill him while being racially abusive to him during the incident outside their flats in Riparian Square, Colchester, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Atkins had also approached another neighbour in a car park outside their flats with the machete visible under his jacket to speak to him about something he was upset about and assaulted him.

%image(14470373, type="article-full", alt="Gregory Atkins, of Colchester, was jailed for 18 months at Ipswich Crown Court where he was described as a "nightmare neighbour".")

The neighbour later told police he thought Atkins was going to kill him, said Claire Matthews, prosecuting.

Atkins, 45, had denied possessing a machete, assault by beating and racially aggravated harassment but was convicted by a jury after an earlier trial.

In addition to being jailed he was banned from contacting the victims of the offences for five years.

Sentencing Atkins, Judge Emma Peters said he could rightly be described as a “nightmare neighbour” and said he had been threatening and abusive to his neighbours at a time he had a machete hanging by his side.

She said he’d been sitting on his sofa and had gone outside to a car park after seeing one of the victims return from work in his van.

He had spoken to the victim while he had the sheath containing the machete hanging from his shoulder and clearly visible to the man.

She said the assault by beating hadn’t caused the victim any great harm but had caused him anxiety and he thought he was going to be killed.

She said that when another neighbour came out of his flat Atkins had confronted him and had been racially abusive to him and had threatened to kill him.

He’d also said the Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar” and said: “I’m going to bomb you.”

Barry Gilbert for Atkins said his client had undertaken a personal and social skills course while he was in prison. “These offences were about his personal skills with other people,” said Mr Gilbert.