A MAN charged with a double shed burglary told jurors he never waved a samurai sword at a neighbour, but rather that it was a chunk of wood instead.

As the trial of Trevor Francis, of no fixed abode, continued at Oxford Crown Court yesterday the 39-year old took to the witness box.

Prosecutors allege that Francis broke in to two shed at Little Bury, Oxford, on the morning of January 11 before returning to the scene and threatening an eye-witness with a samurai sword.

Francis told the man, jurors were told earlier in the trial, he would ‘f***ing kill him’.

From the witness box Francis told the court he was never at Little Bury at the time of the burglaries and did not steal any items.

Asked to explain his whereabouts he told jurors he did not know where he was at the time and did not have a fixed place to sleep.

He went on to accept going to Little Bury later that day and confronting his alleged victim, who had gone to Francis’ sister house after the alleged break-ins to warn him away from the area.

Asked whether he was wielding a sword he said the item in his hands was ‘a four by four piece of wood’.

Explaining why he brought the wood he said: “Obviously [he] had been to my sister’s house trying to kick my sister’s door in.

“I took it with me for a bit of protection.”

He also accepted lying at police interview when he had claimed a rucksack found at the scene of the alleged burglaries had previously been stolen from him.

Explaining why he had lied at interview he told jurors: “I don’t trust police to tell the truth to be blatantly honest.”

Francis denies all charges and the trial continues.