Pensioner in attack with axe, jury told

A pensioner attacked his elderly next door neighbour and his son with an axe and a mop in an alleged row over wheelie bins, a court heard.

William Knowles, aged 73, was said to have struck neighbour Darren Whitehouse across the neck with a mop handle before the victim punched him in the face in self defence.

Knowles then returned while Mr Whitehouse phoned police, walking in through the victims' unlocked front open door and shouting: "Where is he?", Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

He then allegedly swung the wooden-handled axe at Mr Whitehouse's 76-year-old father Arthur.

The violence broke out just after 6pm on December 3 last year in Lyndale Drive, Wednesfield.

Darren Whitehouse told jurors yesterday how he heard Knowles, with whom he had had a bad relationship for more than 30 years, banging his bins against a garage door.

He went outside and an "aggressive" Knowles then struck him on the right of his neck with the mop, it was alleged.

Mr Whitehouse Jnr said: "He brought it back up again and I got my hand up and grabbed hold of it.

"Unfortunately, I had to hit him."

Mr Whitehouse Jnr went inside to phone police, but was disturbed when he heard the door open and his father say: "Darren, he's got an axe", it was claimed.

Mr Whitehouse Snr, who was left with a graze to the back of the head, told the jury: "He (Knowles) was standing in the doorway with an axe and he hit me round the side of the head with it.

"I thought he was going to kill me.

"I went giddy and I shoved him out the door."

He called for help from his son, who rang police before Knowles walked in through the front door again, it was alleged.

Mr Whitehouse Jnr said: "He swung the axe down at me and the blade hit my left arm.

"He attempted to swing the axe again, but this time I managed to grab hold of it. Unfortunately I had to hit him again in the left eye."

The case continues.