A DAD in a blood-stained vest wielding a meat cleaver and armed with two Tasers forced police to close the M5.

Jaimie Winters was spotted on the wrong side of the railings at a bridge over the M5 slashing his wrist and attempting to cut off his own finger before he was Tasered by officers.

The 33-year-old admitted two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon, possession of a bladed article and sending a malicious communication when he was jailed over the videolink at Worcester Crown Court on Friday.

The defendant had made allegations about offences he said were committed against him by his father and his late grandfather but the Crown Prosecution had decided not to pursue the matter because of lack of evidence, something the defendant discovered on July 27 last year.

Siobhan Collins, prosecuting, said Winters had said in a Facebook post that it would ‘not be a baseball bat next time’ and that he would cut his father’s throat. His father was said to be distressed and to fear for his safety and Winters was arrested for sending the malicious communication, interviewed and bailed.

On August 9, police received a call from members of the public about a man standing ‘on the wrong side of the railings on the motorway bridge over the M5’ just before 5am. The motorway was closed and police went to the bridge, at Fockbury Mill Lane, near Bromsgrove, and asked if they could help him.

Miss Collins said: “He was unresponsive to that. He swore at them and told him not to come near him. It was dark at the time but officers could see he was wearing a white vest and there were blood marks on the front of it.”

As they walked towards him he produced what was described as ‘a large meat cleaver’ from his right trouser pocket and held it up towards the officer.

“He went on to say he had two Tasers also and produced them, one in each hand” said Miss Collins.

Winters ‘arced’ the ‘high voltage’ Tasers which causes them to crackle with electricity and threatened to use the Tasers if the officers came too close, telling them to reopen the motorway.

He also repeated to officers the allegations he had made against his father and said, despite this, ‘now he was the criminal.’

Miss Collins said: “He pulled out the meat cleaver and started to slash his arms with a lot of force. One of the officers could clearly hear the cleaver cutting into his arm.” He then began to use the cleaver in a cutting motion to his wrist and also ‘tried to cut his finger off.’

At one point the defendant asked police to Taser him so he would fall off the bridge.

When he stepped away from the bridge, officers Tasered him. The weapons were seized and Winters, of Arlingham Avenue, Bromsgrove, was arrested and taken to hospital.

The first Taser was disguised as a torch and the second was one was described as ‘homemade stun gun’, created out of a strimmer handle.

He said he was on the bridge to scare himself into calming down and would not have hurt the officers.

Martin Butterworth, defending, said the Winters had been self-harming using a blade since the age of 12. He argued that it was an ‘exceptional case’ because of the defendant’s tragic family background and that he suffered PTSD and had an emotionally unstable personality because of his experiences.

Mr Butterworth described Winters as a father-of-six and said his client wanted to return to his family.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright said there were enough exceptional circumstances connected to Winters to depart from the minimum five year prison term stipulated within the sentencing guidelines.

However, he also said that Winters had ‘a significant record for the possession of weapons and bladed articles’ and said jail was ‘unavoidable,’ especially as a community order and suspended order had not served to rehabilitate or deter him in the past.

“Had the police not been there, intervention by someone was at the very least highly likely and, in reality, inevitable. Others need to be deterred from carrying such items in a public place” said judge Cartwright.

He jailed him for 25 months.