A crazed stranger smashed an elderly couple's glass door in with a machete in a horrifying attack that left them fearing they "could have been murdered".
A CCTV camera caught the terrifying moment David Trott, 33, caved in the couple's glass door while wielding a machete outside their Sunderland home.
Jurors at Newcastle Crown Court heard today how the couple, aged 65 and 66, were woken up by Trott thumping on their door at 5.30am on October 24 2020.
The unsuspecting couple went downstairs to find a large steel blade jutting through their broken window as Trott demanded he be allowed inside.
Trott was jailed today for the affray at the couple's home and for an attack on two police officers, one of whom he racially abused, while causing chaos on Sunderland's Queen Alexandra Bridge.
In a victim impact statement read out in court today, the woman said she fears how close the couple came to death.
She said: "I'm so scared of how this could have turned out, we could both have be lying here murdered."
Prosecutor David Comb explained the events of October 24 as the elderly couple went downstairs to see the crazed knifeman scrambling to get in their home.
"They saw the defendant stood outside the back door armed with a machete, which he was pushing through the broken window," said Mr Comb.
"Not surprisingly they were terrified."
Seeing the couple, Trott swore at them and demanded they open the door, he added.
Footage from a CCTV camera at the couple's home, played in court, showed the deranged 33-year-old jumping down from above to in front of the back door before trying to kick it in.
He then reveals the massive machete and strikes it repeatedly against the door's glass window.
The prosecution suggest Trott's wild knife-attack was the result of mistaken identity, as there is no evidence of a link between him and the pensioners.
However, the intended target of Trott's rampage is unknown, he told the court.
"It was a mistake that he ended up at the door of the family," he said.
Despite wearing a hoodie and covering his face, police officers recognised Trott, who has 44 previous offences, and arrested him the next day.
The prosecution told the court of an earlier incident, on the morning of January 4, when Trott sparked a huge emergency response by climbing the Queen Alexandra Bridge in Sunderland city centre.
"He had a bottle of alcohol in his hand and was jumping up and down," said Mr Comb.
Once the 36-year-old came down from the structure, police tried to handcuff him and he resisted and hurled racist abuse at one of the officers.
He continued to be disruptive back at the station, and even rugby tackled an officer to the floor and kicked another repeatedly.
On the day he scaled the bridge, Trott was also seen jumping on the bonnet of an Audi, which caused over £700-worth of criminal damage.
He pled guilty to affray, criminal damage, and carrying a blade for the terrifying incident at the elderly couple's home.
In relation to the earlier incident, he admitted to the criminal damage of the Audi, racially aggravated harassment, public nuisance and assaulting two emergency workers.
Judge Edward Bindloss jailed Trott for two years and nine months.
In mitigation Liam O’Brien recalled Trott's challenging childhood, which caused him mental health difficulties in later life.
"He was passed from pillar to post," he said.
"He's a man who finds it extremely difficult to regulate his emotions, and it is only in recent months that he has finally developed the ability to look at his behaviour objectively."
Trott has also shown signs of remorse and his sorry for what he has done, the defence lawyer added.
"Mr Trott knows this behaviour is not acceptable," he said.
"He tells me he's not a racist person, he's not someone who has any ill feeling towards individuals from any community.
"It was the heat of the moment. He's very remorseful for the way he behaved."
