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An axe wielding attacker kept police at bay for 15 hours during a siege in which he shouted vile racist abuse at officers.

Thomas Williams threatened police with an axe, a pickaxe, a machete, knives and a garden hoe as they surrounded his home in Lustleigh.

He threw a metal chair leg, bottle and glasses and threatened to throw acid at the armed response units who set up a cordon during the siege last September.

He shouted racist abuse including the N word and told one officer he had come to Britain on the Empire Windrush, which was bizarre because the constable was actually originally from Poland.

The first policeman to attend a report of a disturbance was so frightened when Williams appeared with an axe that he ran for his life and hid under a tree.

The siege caused a massive drain on police resources with 71 officers involved including the crew of the force helicopter and several armed response units.

Williams, aged 35, of Mapstone Hill, Lustleigh, admitted affray, racially aggravated threatening behaviour and criminal damage to a police car.

He was jailed for two years by Judge Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court, who told him:”You were in an absolutely uncontrollable rage. You were aggressive and going wild inside the property.

“You were out of control and brandished a number of truly frightening weapons and threw things at the police including a bottle which you said contained acid but was not.

“You were screaming appalling abuse, including racial abuse. Your behaviour was truly frightening and gave rise to a very significant risk of harm and required the deployment of huge numbers of police.”

Mr Robert Yates, prosecuting, said the police had already been called to the house earlier in the day before the disturbance started again at 9 pm.

An officer who knocked at the door was confronted by Williams who was drunk, dishevelled, bare chested and brandishing a long-handled axe. The constable fled and his under a tree until armed colleagues arrived.

Williams smashed the window of a police car by throwing a glass from an upstairs window and threatened to hurl a bizarre selection of items including an anvil and a piano.

He was recorded on body cam shouting at an officer who he seemed to think was black, calling him a ‘f***ing n*****’ and yelling ‘Windrush, Windrush, you came her on a f***ing boat’.

Williams has a record of 156 offences and had only been released from his last jail sentence in June.

Miss Katie Churcher, defending, said Williams has a history of mental health problems which played an important part of this incident.

He has written a letter of apology to the court and regrets his behaviour. His family have offered him a home and he would be able to work with probation and the psychiatric services if he were freed on a suspended sentence.