Football row sparked sword siege

A sword-wielding man held riot police at bay for three hours after a row between neighbours got out of hand, a court has heard.

Alec Cowie, 38, also used a crowbar, knives, a hammer and squirted liquid at officers in a bid to evade capture. The High Court in Edinburgh heard the row was sparked by a football being kicked over a garden fence in Sandhaven, Aberdeenshire. Cowie, admitted a string of public order offences. Sentence was deferred. The court was told that a football was kicked into a garden during a barbeque on 5 May 2008.