A DRUID with one hand, who rose through the ranks to lead the feared biker gang ‘The Caballeros’, has been sent to prison after stabbing a man with a scythe in an attack at Hereford pub The Brewers Arms on November 24 last year.

On Friday, Hereford Crown Court heard how Gypsy Outlaw Smith, 57, had launched himself at an unsuspecting victim, head-butting him in the face, before producing a 10-inch serrated scythe with which he stabbed the pub’s manager, who had attempted to intervene.

He then pinned another bystander against a wall, held the knife to his cheek and told him he would “cut his face off”.

When police arrived to apprehend a fleeing Smith they discovered in his car a walking stick that concealed another blade, and an army flare gun, apparently loaded and ready to fire.

Smith, now wheelchair-bound due to osteoporosis, refused to appear in court, but was sentenced to three and half years imprisonment by Recorder Sam Mains.

Described as a lifelong member of The Caballeros, Smith, from Coventry, has now renounced the gang following a tear-strewn prison visit from one of his young grand-daughters.

Jason Taylor, defending, told the court the gang’s strict cultural laws dictated he offered no comment to police and carried weapons on his person at all times.

However he pleaded guilty to all charges and had his wife throw away his collection of weapons, as he seeks to cut ties with the gang return to a more peaceful life as a druid, the court heard.

The incident occurred during a drink- and drug-fuelled ‘lock-in’ at the Eign Street pub, where Smith’s wife, Dawn, worked as a sometime barmaid.

Paul Dawes arrived around midnight, a local man who was said to have taken an interest in the gang’s culture, hierarchy and the lifestyle that goes with it.

Scott Coughtrie, prosecuting, told the court Mr Dawes approached the group of Caballeros – all wearing biker jackets and gang patches – and struck up an amicable conversation with their president.

At some point however, Smith took objection with something Mr Dawes said, lunged forward and head-butted him.

Trying a second time, the gang leader missed and both men fell to the floor; when they got up Smith had produced the black-handled scythe, described by one witness as looking “like something out of the film ‘Predator’”.

On hearing the scuffle manager Niven Jones stepped between the two men, however Smith, flailing his arms around wildly, stabbed him in his lower abdomen.

Mr Jones fell to the floor, lying in a pool of blood, and Smith turned on another man attempting to calm the situation.

Mr Coughtrie told the court that Smith, who had part of one of his arms amputated, held the blade within an inch of the victim’s neck and threatened to cut his throat, before pressing it against his face.

In total, Smith was sentenced to 18 months for grievous bodily harm, 12 months for affray, four months for possession of an offensive weapon – the scythe – three months for both the walking stick-knife and flare gun, and three months for common assault.