A young man who armed himself with a machete in fear of his drug dealer was ‘shopped’ to the police by his own mum.

Paul Cargill feared that the dealer would be calling at his family home in Wallasey over an unpaid debt and he did not want to bring trouble to their door and so took the weapon out with him to a nearby alleyway.

Fortunately for the 29-year-old his worried mum called the police and he was arrested within minutes and the machete found discarded in the alley.

Suspending an eight-month prison sentence for two years Judge Anil Murray told Cargill: “In drink you seemed to think it would be a good idea to take the machete with you. You mother contacted the police and you should be incredibly grateful to her that she did that.”

He continued: “Who knows what might have happened if your mother had not acted responsibly. It is said you took it as a scare tactic. The problem with that argument is that lots of people say that and it can escalate and people get seriously hurt.

“Alcohol and weapons and arguments with drug dealers is a bad combination. You had no control over what could happen.”

Cargill had pleaded guilty to possessing an offensive weapon in a public place.

Judge Murray also ordered him to carry out 150 hours unpaid work and 20 days rehabilitation activities.

Derek Jones, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court today (Monday) that the incident happened last Christmas Eve after Cargill had spent the afternoon drinking.

He owed his drug dealer £25 which he did not have and he took the machete and told his family that he was going out to see the drug dealer.

Mr Jones said: "It was now about 10.30 pm and his mum rang the police. Fortunately a patrol car was nearby and officers saw him leaving an alleyway in Brompton Avenue.

"Officers spoke to him and re-traced his steps and found the machete, which had a foot long blade, down the alleyway.

When interviewed Cargill said some people were going to approach the house and he took the weapon with him to frighten them."

Claire Jones, defending, said that Cargill, who has one previous conviction for criminal damage and a warning for possessing a baseball bat in 2007, had been struggling to pay his drug debt “and it was weighing heavily on his mind.”

He had stopped using drugs after starting to suffer panic attacks and he had post traumatic stress disorder after being attacked in a former job.

He had also suffered bereavements and Christmas was an emotional time. “He accepts he utterly over-reacted.”

He had one more instalment of his drugs debt payment to make and did not want to bring “trouble to his mother’s door.”

Miss Jones said that the incident had been “a wake-up call” and he would benefit from the intervention of the probation service.