A KENDAL man went on late night 'patrol' armed with a baseball bat, causing extreme fear to a man who lay prone with a badly broken leg, a court heard.

Pawel Trepkowski, now 39, found himself in court for the first time after an incident outside his Stricklandgate home in the early hours of 30th October, 2022.

Carlisle Crown Court heard Trepkowski had left his property to take rubbish to an outside bin.

At the same time, a man was lying injured nearby with a severe leg injury after being attacked by an unidentified assailant, it was said.

Trepkowski returned to his home and then emerged with a baseball bat.

“The defendant was patrolling various areas of the outside,” said prosecutor Tim Evans, “holding the bat; tapping it against his leg; tapping it against his arm when he came close to the seriously injured man and his girlfriend; holding it up at shoulder level as though he might use it.”

Both the man and his partner were extremely upset and fearful during the incident, the court heard.

Trepkowski pleaded guilty to possessing an offensive weapon in public.

Anthony Horsfall, mitigating, said it was the defendant’s case that he had been assaulted beforehand. He had moved to the UK from his native Poland for a better life, had a stable address, partner and was in work.

“He was clearly misguided,” said Mr Horsfall of the offence, “and protecting his home. It has been a highly sobering experience for the defendant.”

Mr Horsfall added: “It was heat of the moment. He certainly regrets his actions.”

Passing sentence, Recorder Julian Shaw imposed an eight-month jail term, suspended for 18 months. Trepkowski must complete 120 hours’ unpaid work.

Recorder Shaw told the defendant: “This was in the very early hours of the morning and you were seen — and I use the term from Mr Evans’ — almost to be patrolling the area as some sort of self-appointed vigilante, waving then holding the baseball bat in a manner which would have been intimidating to anyone, let alone this disabled man, who was struggling with a severely broken leg."

The judge also said to Trepkowski as the case concluded: “This is a law-abiding country and the courts do not look favourably on those who seek to take it upon themselves to patrol the streets armed with weapons.

“If you were in any doubt whatsoever as to the view the courts take about such conduct, you must have been completely blind to what has been happening up and down the length and breadth of country in the last few months where people have been sent to prison for such disorder.”