A FATHER has spoken out about how his family are struggling to move on after his ex’s partner turned up at their home brandishing a knife.

Billy Collins, of Felix Road, Didcot, said the incident in June this year had left his children traumatised, with his 11-year-old son still scared to leave the family home.

Wayne Townsend, 35, pleaded guilty to possessing a knife in a public place, threatening behaviour and criminal damage at Oxford Magistrates’ Court in August.

Mr Collins, 34, recounted how he was at home with his five children, his young step-daughter and her friend, all aged between two-and-11-years-old, when Townsend arrived to confront him.

He said: “I got a phone call from a friend to say they’d seen him walking toward my house with a knife.

“I quickly got the kids inside and called the police.

Mr Collins said he did not answer the door as Townsend continued to goad him out of the house.

He said: “I didn’t see the knife myself because he had his hands behind his back, but my son , who was able to look down on him from his bedroom window, started screaming ‘I can see a knife, I can see a knife’.

“He was terrified.

“I’m worried for my son. He’s on the waiting list to see a counsellor - he wouldn’t leave the house after it happened, so we will have to see what happens.”

Mr Collins said the traumatic incident was over ‘quite quickly’, with Townsend, of Nightingale Way in Didcot, leaving the scene after failing to bring Mr Collins to the door.

He was later arrested and charged - there is no suggestion Townsend intended to harm the children.

However, Mr Collins, added: “If it weren’t for my friend ringing I probably would have answered the door and who knows what might have happened – ‘it’s the ‘what ifs’ more than anything’.”

Townsend was sentenced to 12 months in prison at crown court on August 20 – a sentence Mr Collins branded as ‘pathetic’.

He said: “There were seven children in my house at the time - it’s affected us all big time, I’m just hoping we can move on.”