A bricklayer who smashed his ex-partner's car up with an axe in anger could be facing jail. 

Jason Hughes of Eric Long Court, Kennedy Drive, Eldene, appeared before Swindon Magistrates Court on July 31 charged with possession of a bladed article during an incident on April 1. 

The 52-year-old bricklayer had been in a relationship for seven years which ended in January this year. He had been into an argument with his ex-partner over an unpaid bill, prosecutors told the court. 

It is said she went to his home unannounced and he followed her back to hers afterwards, where it is alleged she left her property with a knife and started attacking Hughes' new, two-month-old van with it. 

Hughes then grabbed one of the tools of his trade, an axe, and smashed the windows of her car. Gordon Hotson, defending Hughes, argued it could have been a mallet or hammer instead.

He said: "He got one of his work tools, the axe to defend himself.

"However, he then lost his temper because of the damage that had been caused by her to his van, and he took that out on her car.

"The axe was a perfectly lawful piece of equipment for him to carry, but became a a weapon that he used not to cause injury but to cause damage.

"He accepts he overstepped the mark, accepts he was in the wrong, he made it clear that he should not have done that."

The court heard how the complainant had not pressed charges against Hughes for criminal damage. 

Hughes pleaded guilty to the one count of possession of a bladed article but was not sentenced on the same day.

Magistrates told Hughes that they felt that he had passed the custody threshold with his actions. 

"We are concerned about your past convictions," they said, "Although they were some time ago, they all seem to stem from your losing your temper.

"In this incident, the fact you drove to this person’s house and ended up doing this does not help."

A pre-sentence report was ordered and Hughes is due to be sentenced on September 13.