A FATHER had to fight off a sword-wielding intruder who tried to get into his home after downing whisky and vodka and watching a horror movie on Netflix.

Gavin Thorne had drunk two litres of spirits when he attacked neighbour Stephen Howell’s home in Okehampton with a large Gurkha knife known as a kukri.

Mr Howell punched him to the face and managed to get him out of his house even though Thorne got on his knees after being knocked down and tried to crawl inside.

Police found him semi conscious in his own house with a black eye. He was so drunk he could not even remember fetching the kukri from his garden shed.

He apologised to his neighbour when he sobered up and told a probation officer ‘I got a good kicking and I deserved it’.

Thorne, aged 39, of Okehampton, admitted affray and was jailed for 12 months, suspended for a year, and ordered to do 20 days of rehabilitation activity and pay £250 costs by Judge Peter Johnson at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: ‘From what I hear about how much you drank, most people would be comatose or dead. In your case, you became belligerent and you harboured some sort of grudge against your neighbour.

‘You armed yourself with a kukri knife and went round to confront Mr Howell. There was a struggle for a little while inside his house and, in your intoxicated state, you were overpowered.

‘You received a heavy punch in the face which left you with a black eye and many will think you got your just deserts. This was disgraceful, anti-social and aggressive behaviour.’

Simon Burns, prosecuting, said Mr Howell was watching X Factor with his wife and two children on the night of Saturday, October 6 last year when he heard a commotion outside.

He found Thorne brandishing an ‘extremely menacing’ kukri. Thorne asked him ‘do you want to play?’. Mr Howell feared for the safety of his two children and punched him in the face, knocking him down.

Thorne kept trying to get into the house on his hands and knees but was eventually thrown out and the police found him back at home, drunk.

He said he had drunk a litre of vodka and a litre of whisky while watching American Horror Story on Netflix. The next thing he remembered was being woken by another neighbour after the incident and then arrested.

He said there had been some ill feeling with his neighbour, who he thought had been taking the mickey out of him. He said the rusty kukri had originally been an ornament but he used it for gardening and kept it in his shed.

Mr Burns said: ‘It seems he may have been acting out his own part in the horror film he had been watching, but in this case, he came off worst.’

Peter Seigne, defending, said Thorne suffered from chronic back pain and had problems with his medication on the day of the incident.

He drank the alcohol to try to make himself pass out.

He had no memory of what he had done but now accepted he behaved like an idiot. He had patched up relations with his neighbour, although they were not good friends.

Mr Seigne said: ‘He was punched to the ground and says he deserved what he got. He was carrying a weapon and accepts that the neighbour was entitled to defend his home.’