Children at a birthday party were left "scared to death" after a neighbour wielded a hammer following an argument about his loud music.

Twelve months of tensions between the Oldford Rise, Welshpool neighbours escalated on July 16 when Jaroslaw Kowalski began smashing bin lids with a hammer and walked towards the family who were celebrating in their garden.

The birthday boy's mother pleaded with Kowalski: "You can't come in here with that".

Kowalski claimed he was attacked moments before by two men who had "barged" into his home asking him to turn the music volume down. He told the court that he was "very ashamed" by what had happened and that "alcohol took the better of me".

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The 42-year-old pleaded guilty to threatening behaviour to cause fear and will be sentenced at Welshpool Magistrates Court on September 20.

In a victim impact statement read in court, the mother said the incident made her “extremely scared and very distressed.”

“There was no reasoning with him,” she said. “My daughter is scared to death with him. We shouldn’t be able to live like this.”

The court was told that the victim claims there had been "constant issues" with her neighbour for 12 months.

Helen Tench, prosecution, said: "The father had asked the defendant to put the music down. The defendant then came out of his address. She had children in garden, and he had hammer and smashed the bins as he walked towards them.

"Ian Roberts saw the commotion and the defendant waving a hammer around. Jamie Owen also heard an argument with a neighbour who was asking to put his music down. He saw the defendant shaking his fists and shouting and swearing, then returning to the property with a hammer and began to bang the bin cover, shouting and clenching fists and tensing his muscles."

Police officers attended the birthday party, arrested Kowalski and found a hammer on his sofa.

Mrs Tench added: “The defendant said he was listening to music when two men barged into the house wanting him to turn the music down and began assaulting him.”

Speaking to the court through a Polish interpreter, Kowalski said he understood how frightening it was for those involved and “that’s why I’m pleading guilty at the first available opportunity.”

“I do very much regret what happened," he said. "I thought I had a good relationship with those neighbours and I am very ashamed. There were no instances with them. The people I live around, I tend to live with peacefully.”

Magistrates adjourned sentencing until September 20 for a pre-sentence report by the probation service.