A FATHER described the "horror movie" moment an axe-wielding man tried to attack him before running off along a busy city centre road swarming with people.

Wesley Joyce said his only instinct was to protect others as he gave chase when Adam Sapwell ran off toward College Street after swinging the rusty axe towards him.

Sapwell threw the weapon at Mr Joyce, narrowly missing him, before the ex-soldier restrained him outside the Hand in Glove until police arrived on July 20 this year.

An onlooker described the incident like a "Steven Seagal film" but, despite counting himself lucky nobody was injured, Mr Joyce said he was shocked to discover Sapwell, of Liverpool Road, Ronkswood, had not been jailed.

The 29-year-old pleaded guilty to affray and having an offensive weapon and was handed a 16 month sentence suspended for two years with supervision on each charge to run concurrently. He was also ordered to attend a reducing violence programme.

Mr Joyce, aged 33, said: "Once I got hold of him I knew I had to restrain him in case he hurt someone else but instead our criminal system has effectively chosen to let him go.

"He could have seriously hurt someone.

"It was a warm summer's day so there were people in the pubs, a film must have finished because there were children coming out of the cinema - everyone was in shock.

"I was in the Parachute Regiment but I never expected to face someone coming at me with an axe in my hometown."

Mr Joyce, who donated a kidney to stranger Sally-Anne Grainger in October, used to work with Sapwell who wrongly thought the happily-married man had been involved with his ex-partner.

Despite the rumours proving false, he stepped out of the canal path near The Commandery swinging the axe at Mr Joyce, hitting a lamppost before running off.

Mr Joyce said: "The scariest thing was the rusty blade on the axe.

"I will never forget it. It was like something out of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

"My Army training just kicked in and I knew I had to disarm him.

"It all went in slow motion and I just managed to swerve the axe when he threw it. Luckily it didn't hit anyone.

"In hindsight I probably shouldn't have gone after him because I have a wife and three children but the adrenalin kicked in and I kept thinking what if he did something to someone else.

"I couldn't have that on my mind."

Witness Paul Gannon, from Powick, called the horror attack "surreal".

The 35-year-old, who was in the Hand in Glove, said: "I saw this guy frantically running down the road and then Wes, who I knew from school, running after him.

"I thought it was a bit of fun at first but realised something serious was going on.

"He just threw the axe and it narrowly missed Wes, I remember thinking it could have caused severe damage.

"It made this loud, metallic scrapping sound on the floor which is when I think most people realised it was no joke.

"Everything was left down to Wes, he was heroic - it was like something from a Steve Seagal film.

"It's something I don't think many people will forget and I take my hat off to Wes."