A FORMER chef armed with a ball-bearing gun and a meat cleaver terrified agricultural workers when he called at a Worcester farm looking for an alleged rapist.

Darren Miles claimed his girlfriend told him she was the victim of a sex attack.

Wearing a scarf to cover his face, he went to Temple Laugherne Farm, Oldbury Road, and began banging on caravan doors in an agitated state, said Joanne Barker, prosecuting.

He named the man he wanted to confront but was informed he did not live at the farm any longer.

But Miles, who had a history of weapons possession and alcohol abuse, put the gun to the head of one worker and brandished the cleaver at a female resident.

He was later arrested by armed police and it emerged that the rape story had been invented, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Miles, aged 26, of Cannon Street, Red Hill, Worcester, was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, affray, and possession of a cleaver.

Judge Andrew Geddes said that he had come close to being given an indeterminate sentence for public protection.

Reports suggested he was unaware of the harm he posed to others and confirmed that his offending was escalating.

The judge added: "It must have been a terrifying experience. He has admitted he thinks it unlikely that he will stay sober on his release."

But Miles, who has been attending an alcohol awareness course while on remand in jail, insisted to the judge from the dock that he was "trying his hardest" to change his life.

Chaos came to the farm on February 1 last year when Miles turned up in the dark at about 9pm.

He told police that the gun was not loaded and he had thrown it into a lake.

He claimed that the man he wanted to talk to had sent his girlfriend a text message and he wanted to frighten him.

Miles had a record of 35 previous convictions, four of them for possession of weapons including a samurai sword, a kitchen knife and a knuckleduster.

Abigail Nixon, defending, said there was conflict between the authors of reports on Miles in assessing his risk to the public.

He acknowledged that alcohol misuse was behind his crimes but had begun to address the problem.

Miss Nixon said he went to the farm "fuelled by alcohol and rage" but was later told by his girlfriend that the rape story she had told him "was all a lie".

He had decided to give up being a chef because it brought him into contact with alcohol when cooking.