A depressed farmer who staged a road blockage to highlight his dispute with Barclays Bank has avoided a jail sentence.

But father-of-four Harry Sutcliffe was given a stern warning by a judge about any further public protests.

In March this year the 44-year-old used bales of hay from his home at Cow House Farm, Cullingworth, to barricade the nearby Bingley Road. He also erected hoardings referring to his dispute with Barclays Bank.

Having prevented traffic from using the road, Sutcliffe then threatened to set fire to one of the bales before sitting in his tractor armed with a pick axe handle and a drum containing two gallons of petrol.

Bradford Crown Court heard last Friday that Sutcliffe threatened to set fire to PC Sheena Watson when she arrived on the scene and made similar threats to douse himself or anyone else in petrol if they approached.

The stand-off lasted for about four hours and meant that a fire crew and in excess of 20 police officers were involved in dealing with the incident.

Prosecutor David Kelly pointed out that throughout the drama Sutcliffe was smoking heavily while in the cab and fire officers feared that at any time there could be an explosion.

Mr Kelly described how police sergeant Peter McCorkindale bravely built up a rapport with Sutcliffe despite his mood swings and persuaded him that no-one from Barclays Bank would be attending the scene in response to his protest.

The officer was able to grab the pick axe handle from Sutclffe's lap and eventually he agreed to end his blockade on condition that he was allowed to feed his livestock before the police took him into custody.

Sutcliffe, who was previously bound over in relation to another protest, pleaded guilty to charges of affray and possessing an offensive weapon.

He was on Friday made the subject of a community rehabilitation order for two years with a condition that he take part in session aimed at conflict resolution and anger control.

The court heard that he had been involved in a long-running dispute with Barclays and his financial problems had also been exacerbated by the fact that his farm fell into a foot and mouth exclusion zone.

Passing the sentence Judge Scott Wolstenholme told Sutcliffe: "I accept that over a considerable period of time you have been subject to ever-increasing pressure and stress because of the difficulties in pursuing your livelihood and these matters came to a head in March this year.

"But it is a sad factor of present life that your difficulties are shared by many in the rural communities who have the good sense and restraint not to let their frustration boil over into criminal offences.

"Public protest can be a legitimate way of drawing attention to a person's grievances but it can never be legitimate if it involves criminal offences and the threat of violence and what you did on March 9 was very frightening indeed."

Judge Wolstenholme said he had been persuaded to draw back from custody because of Sutcliffe's previous record, the fact that he was suffering from a depressive illness at the time and the devastating effect a jail term would have on his family. After the hearing Mr Sutcliffe said that he wanted to go home and get on with his work.