A judge told a man found with a machete hidden down his trouser leg that the courts would not tolerate people who carry weapons in public.Jayson Bowers, 37, was stopped in his van by police after there had been earlier reports of a man carrying a weapon in Swirles Place, in Yarmouth.

A judge told a man found with a machete hidden down his trouser leg that the courts would not tolerate people who carry weapons in public.

Jayson Bowers, 37, was stopped in his van by police after there had been earlier reports of a man carrying a weapon in Swirles Place, in Yarmouth.

Norwich Crown Court heard that Bowers was found to have the machete hidden down his trouser leg. Bowers told police that he had taken the weapon from his works van after a confrontation with a man he believed was drug dealing in his neighbourhood.

Bowers, of Wolseley Road, Yarmouth, admitted possession of a bladed article.

Jailing him for four months, Judge Peter Jacobs told him that carrying a weapon, especially if used in confrontational situations, was taken very seriously by the courts.

Stephen Spence for Bowers said he had not gone out looking for trouble but had been threatened first by the man he confronted.

He said Bowers was a hardworking, family man.