Dad drove a car at his son before trying to attack him with an axe in South Shields
A dad who charged at his son with an axe after driving towards him in a car and ordering a dog to "get" him has been jailed.
Kevin Cruickshanks' victim managed to block the axe attack by closing the front door but now lives in fear he could be killed by his own father.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the son had gone out to buy a pint of milk in South Shields one morning last April when he saw Cruickshanks driving towards him "erratically and dangerously" and had to jump out of the way of the vehicle.
Cruickshanks then got out of the car, grabbed his son, put his thumbs into his eyeballs and told his dog to "get" him but the animal ran off.
The court heard the victim made his way back to the house he came from but Cruickshanks followed and tried to attack him with an axe.
He said in an impact statement: "If I wasn't fast enough to shut the door he would have taken my face off.”
Cruickshanks, 46, of Bewick Road, North Shields, who has 111 offences on his record, admitted possessing a bladed article and causing criminal damage to the door with it.
He denied attempted wounding with intent but was convicted by a jury after a trial.
His son said in an impact statement Cruickshanks behaviour towards him has got worse in recent years and added: "I live in fear if he does encounter me, he will kill me.
"If I hadn't closed the door fast enough I believe my dad would have killed me the way he lunged the axe at my head."
Miss Recorder Rebecca Brown jailed Cruickshanks for five years and issued a ten-year restraining order to protect his son.
The recorder said: "You were holding the axe above your head.
"He told the jury 'if I wasn't fast enough to shut the door he would have taken my face off'.
"He described how you lunged towards his face with the axe. He shut the door and you hit the door another three to four times causing all the glass to shatter onto his hair and down his top.
"He said, 'I believe I would have been dead if the door wasn't there. He probably would've chopped me all over the house'."
The recorder added: "You were running at your son with an axe, a highly dangerous weapon, capable of causing serious if not fatal damage."
Estelle Chambers, defending, said Cruickshanks did not have an easy upbringing, has learning difficulties and his own father is in poor health.