A CYCLIST who threatened a motorist with a meat cleaver after he knocked him off his bike has six months to prove he can keep out of trouble.

Martin Rush, 28, has a long record and was due to start a domestic violence programme, but was said to be turning his back on crime.

He is alleged to have told Amjad Ali: “You better watch your back and sleep with one eye open.

“I am going to cut your ears off,” Burnley Crown Court heard.

Rush had his sentence deferred until August 5, after admitting possessing an offensive weapon, last July.

Judge Beverley Lunt said Rush was not ‘a bit of a kid’, and the offence was serious, but he had been keeping out of trouble lately.

She told Rush, of Albert Street, Burnley, that she was giving him a chance to prove he had changed permanently and not just because he had been due to appear in court.

Simeon Evans, prosecuting, said Mr Ali was in his car in Albert Street, slightly lost control on the corner and clipped Rush’s bicycle.

The two men had an argument and the defendant said he pulled open the door and Mr Ali produced a knife and threatened him.