A drunk who threatened a doorman with a pool cue has been spared jail - and told by a judge he can keep his "highly dangerous" weapon.

Rowdy roofer Sean MacLeod lashed out after being refused entry to The Ashford Club in the early hours of October 7 last year.

Having first tried to goad the bouncer into a fight, the 34-year-old brandished the cue in such a way that it was feared he was wielding nunchucks, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

MacLeod also branded the staff member a "bald-headed ****" and, on arrest, police found an axe in his drawstring bag.

But when a judge was this week asked to make what is known as a forfeiture and destruction order for both weapons, he took pity on MacLeod and said he could keep the cue due to its sentimental value.

MacLeod, of Goteley Mere, Kennington, Ashford, was also handed a suspended sentence after admitting common assault and two charges of possessing an offensive weapon.

The court was told MacLeod had reacted "aggressively and abusively" to being refused entry to the High Street pool club at about 1am.

"He was rowdy and drunk and tried to engage the doorman in a fight," said prosecutor Caroline Knight.

"He then deliberately took out and unscrewed the pool cue into two parts, brandishing them in such a way they were initially described as nunchucks.

"Along with that aggressive and abusive behaviour he shouted to a doorman, calling him a bald-headed ****, and brandished the pool cue at him.

"Police were called and they had some difficulty subduing him because he was plainly intoxicated.

"In the course of being subdued and, in relation to a string bag, he said 'There's no f****** axe or anything in there'. In fact, there was an axe."

Ms Knight said MacLeod, whose six previous convictions include one in 2014 for possessing an offensive weapon, made "candid" admissions when interviewed.

"He admitted he had been waving the pool cue about, had the axe with him in case he was attacked, and was asking the door staff for a fist-fight," she said.

Asking the court to make forfeiture and destruction orders for the two weapons, the prosecutor argued that the pool cue, although an "everyday" item, had been "deliberately changed into a highly dangerous" implement.

However, MacLeod's lawyer Kerry Waitt said that while there was no objection to the axe - said to be used for fishing purposes - being destroyed, the cue had been a gift from his late grandfather.

"It is a matter of great sentimental value to him and it is not in itself a weapon," Mr Waitt added.

MacLeod, who appeared in court via prison video link, also objected to losing the cue, explaining to the judge that he was "not a bad person".

"That pool cue was from my grandfather and that club was a pool club. I went there to play a few games of pool and then go home," he told Recorder John Bate-Williams.

"The axe was a fishing axe. I take kids with mental health issues fishing. I'm a big advocate for mental health. Choose a life, not a knife.

"I'm not a bad person. I work for a living. I have never taken drugs."

The court heard MacLeod had been in custody since his arrest and therefore served the equivalent of a 10-month prison term.

Imposing an 18-month sentence suspended for 18 months, with 100 hours of unpaid work and 40 rehabilitation activity sessions, Recorder Bate-Williams said there was a need to help and support MacLeod's own mental health problems.

Of the two weapons seized by police on arrest, the judge added: "I order the forfeiture and destruction of the axe but not the pool cue because of the fact it is of substantial sentimental value."