A Gwendraeth Valley man who once held a barman at gunpoint so he could carry on playing a gambling machine has now been found guilty of a serious assault.

Jay Devereux, aged 20, faces jail after a jury at Swansea crown court heard how he went berserk when refused drugs.

Dyfed Thomas, prosecuting, told how Devereaux, of Heol Brandy, Pontyberem, called at the home of Leigh Hopkins, in Llandybie Road, Ammanford.

Mr Hopkins had been prescribed Valium and Devereaux demanded some.

When he was refused, Devereaux assaulted Mr Hopkins, but quickly left the flat with a friend, Lee McKinnon.

A short while later,a Devereaux turned on Mr McKinnon and struck him with a hoe, breaking a leg in two places and inflicting other injuries.

Devereaux was convicted of common assault on Mr Hopkins and inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr McKinnon.

Judge Keith Thomas said the GBH offence meant he needed a report on whether Devereaux constituted a dangerous offender.

"A harsher sentencing regime applies if he is," the judge explained to the jury after the verdicts had been returned.

Devereaux was remanded in custody and will be sentenced next month.

Devereaux was 18 when, on Christmas Day 2004, barman Joseph Nicklin told him to stop playing a fruit machine because he was not a member of Ammanford Miners' Welfare Club.

Devereux had already won £100 on one of the machines and insisted on trying his luck still further.

He suddenly pulled out an imitation Colt .45 handgun and pointed it at Mr Nicklin's head, threatening "to blow his brains out if he switched off the machine".

Devereux was to say later that he was just "mucking about" and complained "there is nothing to do in Ammanford".

Devereux fed more coins into a gambling machine without winning another jackpot and eventually left - but not before he pointed the gun at a CCTV camera, images of which were shown to the jury at Swansea crown court.

He was convicted of possessing an imitation firearm with the intention of making Mr Nicklin fear violence would be used against him.