A masked man armed with a samurai sword who put six people through a “petrifying ordeal” has been jailed today (Tuesday) for four years and eight months.

Kyle Poole, aged 26, admitted kidnapping Luke Jones and his girlfriend Hannah Wright, and causing affray at the home of another person.

Patrick Griffiths, prosecuting, told Swansea crown court how Poole, from Stockport, had visited his aunt, Michaela Jones, in Cardigan and had been told about a man who had been involved in a minor act of violence.

Poole decided to take revenge and drove to the person’s home.

The victim cannot be named to protect the identity of his children under an order issued by the court.

Poole used a scarf as a mask and put on a pair of latex gloves before bursting into a caravan and “scaring the daylight” out of Mr Jones and Miss Wright.

Poole punched Mr Jones to his eye and demanded to know where he could find the other person he was looking for.

Poole then placed two large kitchen knives in his left hand and a three foot long samurai sword in his right hand and took the couple to another property.

He burst into the living room where the man was watching television with his three children, aged between seven and 14.

“It is not difficult to imagine the terror they would have felt,” said Mr Griffiths.

Poole told the victim he was going to “slice him up” and lunged at him with the knives and the sword. The man grabbed the blade of the sword but Poole “kept on coming” and cut his hand and his cheek.

The man managed to push him away and all six victims fled in different directions.

The man and Mr Jones locked themselves in a caravan, the three children ran out onto a road and Miss Wright spent 20 minutes hiding behind a wall “scared out of her wits” that Poole would find her.

A motorist rescued the children and telephoned the police.

Poole was seen to drive away from the property in a Vauxhall car, which he crashed into a fence and abandoned. He was arrested later in Cardigan.

Poole maintained he had intended to frighten the man but not to harm him.

Judge Keith Thomas said when people armed themselves with knives then serious injury can follow.

He said Poole had been “masked and armed to the teeth” and had put his victims through a petrifying experience.

Judge Thomas said he regarded the kidnaps and the violence as separate incidents.

He jailed Poole for 32 months for the kidnaps, with an additional 24 months for the affray.