CHILDREN at a birthday party were left in tears when a man brandishing a hammer started smashing up the garden they were playing in. He jumped over the fence into the back garden of the Chatham house as about 20 tots were celebrating Shannon Sherwood's fifth birthday.

The youngsters fled when the man forced his way into the garden in Clandon Road, Lordswood, and started waving the hammer about. Shannon's mother, Maria Sherwood, said: "We couldn't believe what was happening. It was your worst nightmare. The children were screaming and crying their eyes out. They were terrified."

All the adults at the birthday party tried to calm the man down before calling the police. Mrs Sherwood said the ordeal, at about 4pm on Saturday, has left her children, Shannon, Tyler, six, and Tommy, 18 months, having nightmares.

A man has been arrested.