Police helicopter chased down masked Leeds thug who was waving 'fearsome' machete

Leeds Crown Court heard that Sidney Amador Almeida Fernandes was only given a suspended sentence in December for having a machete in public.

But just weeks later he triggered an armed police response when he was spotted with another male, wearing face coverings and carrying a machete and a large curved-edge sword.

Officers responded to multiple calls on the evening of February 17 that a group of males “wearing balaclavas and brandishing machetes” were on Tempest Road in Beeston.

Making off on an electric bike, gun-carrying officers were deployed along with the police helicopter who gave a “lengthy” chase.

The pair were eventually seen heading into a flat several miles away on Fillingfir Drive in West Park, but were spotted stashing the weapons underneath a parked car, prosecutor Robert Galley told the court.

They were arrested and the large knives seized.

Fernandes, 21, of Cornmill View, Horsforth, admitted a charge of possession of a bladed article in a public place and was remanded into custody for sentencing this week.

He had only appeared at Leeds Crown Court on December 17 where he was given a two-year jail sentence, suspended for two years for two counts of ABH, affray and possession of a bladed article - a machete.

Mitigating, Marc Luxford told the court: “He knows it will have to be immediate custody. He knows he has had his chance.”

Judge Tom Bayliss KC told Fernandes: “It was really a very fearsome weapon. Knife attacks in Leeds are becoming more frequent, and those involved in carrying knives show little or no regard.

“You made a choice to carry that machete. You are only a young man but old enough to know the consequences of making that choice.

“The courts simply won’t tolerate it. It must send a message to you and anybody in Leeds who thinks it’s in some way permissible to carry a knife and the courts to ignore that. The courts won’t ignore that.”

He activated all of the suspended sentence, and gave him another 12 months, making a total of three years’ custody.

The second defendant, a 17-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, previously pleaded guilty to the same charge and was given an eight-month youth referral order.