A KNIFEMAN who ran at a cyclist while brandishing a 6-inch jagged blade and shouting “I’m going to kill you” has been jailed.

Kevin Ross lunged at Gareth Jasons on Newport’s Caerleon Road and chased him around a car, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

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Prosecutor Jenny Yeo said the defendant thought the victim was bullying a friend of his who he was living with.

Ross’ barrister Ieuan Bennett told Judge Rhys Rowlands that there was “bad blood” between the two.

Miss Yeo said: “Mr Jasons was arriving on a bicycle when he saw the defendant running towards him, holding a knife and shouting. ‘I’m going to kill you.’”

She added that when the victim pointed out to Ross that his actions were being captured on CCTV cameras, “he concealed the knife and ran away”.

When he was later arrested, the defendant claimed to the police that the weapon was “just a Halloween toy” and that he had thrown it away.

Miss Yeo said: “He said that the complainant was a bully and was bullying his friend on a daily basis.”

She told the judge that Ross had 15 previous convictions for 22 offences which included possessing an offensive weapon – a chair leg – in 2011.

The defendant, aged 29, of Kestrel Way, Duffryn, Newport, pleaded guilty to threatening another with an offensive weapon on the morning of January 18.

Referring to Britain’s knife crime epidemic, Mr Bennett, for Ross, said: “It is difficult to mitigate in the current time when someone runs towards another with a knife.”

But he put forward that his client was “facing a robust man” with scores of previous convictions and 120 offences to his name.

Mr Bennett said: “There had been a falling out and there was bad blood on both sides.”

His barrister revealed how Ross’ partner had “passed away from cancer” and how they had a child he doesn’t have a “huge amount of contact with”.

Judge Rowlands said: “The victim said he was petrified. He honestly thought he was going to be stabbed.”

He told Ross: “You chased him around a car, lunging at him with a knife.”

Also referring to the endemic knife crime problem on British streets, the judge added: “It causes a great deal of alarm in the wider community.”

Ross was jailed for 12 months and was told he must pay a victim surcharge upon his release from prison.