A ‘paranoid’ man who was spotted walking topless down a main road with a foot-long machete covered in blood has been jailed.

Steven Robinson smashed his way out of his first floor flat on Henry Street in Church and injuring himself in the process, Burnley Crown Court heard.

The 32-year-old, who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosis, then approached a retired lady in a Nissan Micra and tried to open her passenger door ‘several times’ before she drove off.

Another wagon driver said he saw Robinson walking down the road ‘covered in blood’ and with the machete ‘down by his side hiding it from view’ while school children were around.

Robinson was then arrested by police.

Robinson, who has been recalled to serve the rest of a 66-month jail term for an attempted robbery at a Clayton-le-Moors shop in 2011, pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article and was jailed for 12 months.

Stephen Parker, prosecuting, told the court the incident happened at around 4pm on May 21 after his partner woke up to find the bedroom in a ‘complete mess’ and how Robinson ‘didn’t seem himself’.

The court heard he had ‘barricaded the door’, wrapped hoover wire around the kitchen door and pulled a cabinet door off its hinges.

He then appeared with the machete and smashed the window before approaching the Nissan Micra.

Mr Parker said Robinson repeatedly told the woman ‘let me in’ and she described him as ‘not showing any emotion at all’.

After she drove off she then spotted him produce the machete from his trouser waistband and called the police.

Mr Parker said she was ‘scared and worried’ and ‘was fearful in hindsight about what could’ve happened had he got into the vehicle’.

The wagon driver said Robinson was ‘stumbling and dazed’ and ‘appeared out of it’ walking down Henry Street and ‘felt worried’ as there were school children nearby.

Robinson told police how he was ‘in a frenzy’ and had when he woke up was ‘convinced other people were in the house and he was having bad dreams’.

He also told officers that he ‘remembers approaching a couple of cars, tried to get help and no-one would help him’.

The court heard he ‘didn’t mean to frighten anyone and was after assistance’.

Defence barrister Mark Stuart said Robinson did ‘not make threats to anyone’ and ‘only injured himself’.

He told the court: “While I accept members of the public will be frightened he has not even been charged with an affray as this was possession of the weapon and nothing more.

“Due to his paranoia he woke up thinking something was going to happen to him and effectively broke the window and jumped out.

"He is basically wandering up the street trying to get help.

“The lady in the car must have been terrified as he was trying to get into her car.

“He has been trying to get help from the community mental health team in the days before this actually happened because he thought something like this may be about to happen.”

Sentencing, Judge Beverley Lunt said: “You were a frightening prospect to anybody who saw you on this day, but you weren’t a threatening prospect and you didn’t try to harm anybody.

"The only person actually hurt was you but you were scary and the courts have to make it clear that anybody who goes around the streets with a machete in their hands has to face a prison sentence.”