A balaclava-wearer who went armed with a machete to ‘scare’ a man he thought was selling drugs to children has been jailed for 14 months.

Christopher McKeown, 41, of no fixed address, was cleared of aggravated burglary and causing complainant Karl McKenzie actual bodily harm during the incident at the alleged dealers Abingdon home on February 7.

But, as he had admitted taking the machete and a bicycle D-lock to the two-on-one meeting, he was sentenced for possession of the bladed article and offensive weapon at the conclusion of his week-and-a-half long trial at Oxford Crown Court.

Imposing the 14 month sentence, Judge Maria Lamb said: “I hope when you are released you will go back to lawful employment and not find yourself before these courts again.”

A co-defendant, Shaun Collett, 36, who told detectives he was asleep in his flat at the time of the incident, was found not guilty of all charges.

During the trial, McKeown told the jury that he had taken the machete, which he found in Collett’s partner’s home in Brampton Close, Abingdon, in order to scare Mr McKenzie.

He arrived at the alleged dealer’s house in Saxton Road wearing a makeshift balaclava crafted from a beanie hat.

The plan he had concocted with a second man, who he refused to name as he was ‘not a grass’, went wrong when he and Mr McKenzie came to blows.

The alleged victim ‘charged’ at him. During the tussle, McKeown was stabbed in either the leg or the genitals, according to the account given by the defendant and complainant respectively.

A Bristol resident, he had travelled back to Abingdon for a holiday. He binged on Valium and had had to visit hospital several days in the run-up to the incident.

While staying in the south Oxfordshire town, he received a call from a friend alleging Mr McKenzie had sold drugs to the caller’s teen daughter.

He claimed to have bought drugs from Mr McKenzie for ’20, 25 years’. “He was doing it to me. I was buying them when I was 15,” he told the jury.

Prosecutor Julian Lynch asked: “So, what’s changed?” McKeown replied: “It was a little bit closer to home.”

McKeown said he had no intention to assault Mr McKenzie or steal from him. Jurors heard that a bumbag had allegedly been stolen by a second man during the incident.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

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