A man has been jailed for walking down Sutton High Street with a 2ft long machete.

Ali Ahmed Ali, 19, was arrested after police received a number of calls from the public at 7pm on Friday, May 16.

Ali and a 17-year-old friend had earlier followed three men down the high street, before shouting abuse at them outside McDonald's.

They then walked up an alleyway to the side of Kwik Fit in Throwley Way, where they were spotted by two sisters.

The elder girl went home and told her father, while the younger sister kept watch on the men - who continued down Lenham Road towards Matalan.

The younger sister later visited the spot where the men had stopped, and found the 2ft blade wrapped in gold paper.

The knife was tucked in the shrubbery of somebody’s garden.

Sutton police officers arrested the men at the Benhill Estate, and later seized the knife.

There was a note with the machete which mentioned two people, one of them being Ali.

The men were charged the following day for possession of a bladed article in a public place.

Ali, from the Patmore Estate in Battersea, will now spend six months in a young offenders' institution.

He was sentenced on Tuesday, June 17 at Croydon Crown Court.

Ali was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £80.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was given a nine month youth rehabilitation order.

He was sentenced at Wimbledon Magistrates Court on Wednesday, May 28.