An intelligent young musician who fell off the rails and smashed up five police cars in Bristol has been jailed for six months.

James Dunne, who plays the piano and trombone and had applied to read music at Oxford University, found himself living in a hostel with nothing to do when he smashed up the cars with an axe.

The 25-year-old, who has no fixed abode but was living in a Salvation Army hostel in Bristol at the time, committed the acts of sabotage on two occasions outside New Bridewell Police Station.

He said the vandalism may have been a "cry for help."

Dunne pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing a blade, one charge of possessing an offensive weapon and two charges of criminal damage.

John Penny, prosecuting at Bristol Crown Court, said Dunne first smashed up four cars outside the police station on the evening of October 5.

He said police on duty at the station heard noises outside at 10.10pm and saw two men, including Dunne, attacking cars parked outside.

"Dunne appeared to have an axe in his hand. He was swinging it at cars and smashing the windows," he said.

"Police went outside and saw the other man was trying to set fire to pieces of paper and throw them through the windows of the police cars.

"Four police cars were attacked. Dunne ran off and dropped a rucksack and a pair of scissors.

He removed from his head a pair of tights he was wearing as a disguise. In a bag was Communist literature and an axe cover.

"When his room was searched at the Salvation Army, home-made anti-police posters were found," said Mr Penny.

He said the defendant appeared before magistrates on October 7 when he pleaded guilty to offences and was released on bail.

However, nine days later he struck again at the same police station, attacking one more police car.

The defendant was wearing a stocking mask and wielding an axe to smash windows when police came out and shouted at him to drop the axe. Dunne told officers they had taken their time before he was arrested.

Matthew Comer, defending Dunne who has a previous conviction for possessing indecent photographs of children, described his client's crimes as a "bizarre sequence of events."

He said Dunne was a highly intelligent man who scored two As and a B at A-level.

Mr Comer said Dunne passed his grade eight piano exam with distinction aged 14 and also played the trombone and now had difficulty understanding what had gone wrong with his life.

He said his client had been depressed, not doing anything with his life and was unhappy living in temporary accommodation.

He had told him the attacks may have been a cry for help.

Jailing Dunne for six months, Judge Michael Longman said: "These incidents are correctly described as bizarre when committed by someone with such obvious intelligence and ability as yourself.

"I don't think a cry for help quite explains it.

"You seem to be intelligent and thoroughly confused given your history and activity you have interested yourself in in the past.

"You are intelligent enough to realise that if you perform anti-social acts of this sort you run the risk of going to prison but you should realise that all is not lost and the opportunity of gaining redirection in your life is possible after your release."