A MAN who warned that a feud with his father could end in a ‘bloodbath’ has been jailed, after setting fire to the older man’s truck.

Sam Jones had been kicked out of the family home in Congresbury when he torched father Sean’s skip truck at their home in Dolemoor Lane, and completely destroyed it.

Jones, aged 24, who had been remanded in custody since being arrested on February 5, was sentenced to 12 months in prison at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday.

The court heard how the feud between Jones and the rest of his family started when they became concerned that he was using drugs, in particular cannabis and cocaine.

The argument on February 1 became more heated when his father became involved, and when he left the house and was followed by his dad, he picked up a metal ‘asp’ baton, and brandished it at his father.

He was cautioned by the police, and even though his parents told him to stay away and live in his car following the incident, he returned to their home several times in the following days.

David Hunter, prosecuting, said Jones had returned to the house at around 10pm on February 3, and when he heard his son was in the house, his father told him “to sleep in his car”.

At around 3am on the morning of February 4 he returned again, but this time set fire to his father’s truck, which was valued at around �4,000, before fleeing the scene.

Mr Hunter said that in his statement given to the police after his arrest, Jones said that if his father had been in the van he would have set fire to it, and that their relationship would end in a “bloodbath”.

But Paul Light, defending said: “In interview he fully admitted the matters, and he himself handed himself into the police when staying at a friends, after learning that they were looking for him”, and also said that Jones’s drug and mental health issues should be treated as mitigating factors.

The judge, Recorder Michael Fitton QC, said in sentencing: “I have reduced this sentence from what it could be because of the mitigating factors, and because of your communication with your family, who are here to support you and will be there to support you when you are released.

“But there is a good deal more thinking to be done.”