A three-year feud between Bristol neighbours ended with one of them rushing out of his house with a fake blunderbuss, a court heard.

Benjamin Gray, 43, made a 999 call to police and grabbed the replica 16th century weapon because he thought his neighbour was going to attack him.

But he ended up being arrested for having an offensive weapon in a public place and was held in a police cell for 15 hours.

Yesterday Mr Gray, who lives in Boswell Street, Eastville, took Avon and Somerset police chief constable Colin Port to Bristol County Court claiming he had been unlawfully arrested, detained and assaulted by police.

Mr Port was represented in court by barrister Fiona Bartlett who outlined the case for the jury.

She said Mr Gray was in his terraced Victorian home at about 10pm on October 21, 2005, when his neighbour Mr Ellis, who had parked in front of the house, got into his car and revved the engine for 20 minutes.

Mr Gray went outside and made a 999 call on his mobile phone saying he was being intimidated and harassed by Mr Ellis.

His neighbour - with whom Mr Gray says he has a long-running feud over parking - got out of his car and asked him what he was doing.

Mr Ellis, who lives opposite, told police he had just got into his car to go to work when he received a call on his mobile phone.

He saw Mr Gray taking pictures on his phone and got out to ask him why.

The court heard that at that point Mr Gray went back into his house and grabbed the fake blunderbuss, went outside and smashed it on a wall to "warn off" his neighbour.

Two police officers arrived and took the two men back into their homes to speak to them.

Ms Bartlett said Mr Ellis, who is black, accused Mr Gray of using extreme racist insults including "n****r" and "monkey" - an allegation Mr Gray denies.

Inspector Mark Collins, who was a constable at the time, told the court he believed that Mr Gray had been standing on the pavement when he smashed the blunderbuss on the wall and arrested him on suspicion of having an offensive weapon in a public place.

Inspector Collins said that Mr Gray had accused him of being a "New Labour fascist colluding with blacks to stitch me up" and was rude and abusive all the way to Trinity Road police station.

At the station he refused to be searched and was handcuffed and put in a cell.

Mr Gray told the jury there was a long history of animosity between him and the Ellis family who he claimed deliberately parked outside his house.

He said the police operator had asked him to get the registration number of the car which was why he went outside on the night of the incident.

He said: "Mr Ellis jumped out of his car. He's extremely well-built and he was carrying a silver mobile phone which could have been a blade. He was shouting 'what are you doing?'

"He swung one punch at me. I was most worried about what was in his hand.

"I was saying 'go away' and 'leave me alone'

"I was terrified what he might do next and went into my house and grabbed the nearest thing to hand which was a fake 16th century blunderbuss. I grabbed hold of the weapon's base and hit it on a wall."

Mr Gray said he was in his garden at the time and was entitled to defend himself.

He said that he was understandably incensed at being arrested but he never struck out at officers and the degree of force used to restrain him was "gratuitous and sadistic".

He claimed Mr Collins put his arm across his neck, blocking his airway, and the handcuffs dug into his wrists, causing swelling.

Mr Gray left the courtroom while CCTV footage of the incident was shown to the jury.

The case continues.