Machete drawn in neighbours’ row

ELY dad Mark Lesurf took a machete outside when his wife got into a row with a neighbour. Neighbour Leon Franklin claimed that Lesurf s young son had sworn and made racist remarks to him, and complained to the child s mother. The boy s father came out ho

ELY dad Mark Lesurf took a machete outside when his wife got into a row with a neighbour.

Neighbour Leon Franklin claimed that Lesurf's young son had sworn and made racist remarks to him, and complained to the child's mother.

"The boy's father came out holding a large machete or half sword," prosecutor Matthew Bradbury told Ely magistrates.

"The three young men present behaved with quite a lot of restraint in the circumstances, when an inflammatory act by a nasty little boy could have caused them to react with violence."

Leon Franklin told the police: "I was shocked to be called a racist name by a child and more shocked that his father would defend his behaviour."

He called the police, and officers found the wooden handled sword when they searched Lesurf's home.

Mr Bradbury said there was "considerable dispute" about what 43-year-old Lesurf did with the machete when he walked out of his High Barns home.

Lesurf, who admitted having a machete in a public place, told police that he heard Mr Franklin shouting at his wife, and he "grabbed the nearest thing."

"He accepts it was not the right thing to do, it was in the heat of the moment," said solicitor Veronica Candy. "It was a brief carrying of a weapon; he did not intend to use it."

The magistrates decided that evidence should be called about what Lesurf did when carrying the machete, and they will set a date for a "Newton hearing" on September 13. He was given unconditional bail.