AN attack victim was hacked with a machete when a long-running family feud erupted into "devastating and savage" violence, a court was told yesterday.

The man suffered a fractured skull, scalp wound and cuts to his shoulders, arm and hand after a gang burst into his home in Spennymoor, County Durham.

A jury at Teesside Crown Court heard that he jumped out of a bathroom window to escape his attackers - who struck at night while two children were there.

The man who is said to have been the one with the fearsome knife is alleged to have told the victim's partner: "I'll kill you and I'll kill your kids."

Another of the suspected gang is said by the prosecution to have been laughing on the stairs while a third acted as a look-out at the front door.

Michael Herron, Warren Oughton and Ross Patterson deny aggravated burglary, criminal damage and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Mr Herron, 26, of Dean Road, in nearby Ferryhill - said to be the knifeman - also denies assaulting the woman, occasioning her actual bodily harm.

After his arrest, he said he had been at a barbecue with lots of others in close-by Rushyford before going to a pub in Spennymoor and onto West Cornforth.

Mr Patterson, 23, of Opal Avenue, Chilton, is alleged to have been the man on the stairs "egging on" Mr Herron. He said he had been at the same barbecue.

Mr Oughton, 23, of Horse Close Lane, Trimdon, said he had been at home drinking with his girlfriend, and had been nowhere near Spennymoor that night.

Blood containing DNA front the victim was found in the back of Mr Patterson's Volkswagen Golf, which was said by witnesses to have been at the scene.

The victim was in the bath with his partner when the men are said to have burst in at about 11pm on May 10, before causing damage and smashing up his car.

Prosecutor Adrian Dent told the court that Mr Herron pushed over the woman after making a slashing gesture with the machete and cutting her on the finger.

"We are alleging that these are joint enterprises," Mr Dent told the jury. "Even if one or two of the defendants didn't take a leading role, all three of them, in one way or another, participated.

"The reason behind that, say the prosecution, is that there had been an ongoing feud between some of these defendants and [the victim]."

The trial continues.