A MAN who got into the bedroom of his carer before pulling out a knife has been spared jail.

Gary King, 49, who in March this year was told he had only months to live, had admitted common assault, theft and possession of a bladed article and was sentenced on Friday at Bournemouth Crown Court.

King, of Shelley Road East, Boscombe, has had kidney disease and liver failure, but has since had a liver transplant.

The court was told by prosecutor Anita Gibson-Lee that King was in a relationship with his carer, Julie Sidibeh, but they did not live together and King was under instructions not to visit her at home in Hankinson Road, Winton.

On the night before the incident in February this year they had argued.

Miss Gibson-Lee said: “When she returned to her bedroom (the next day) she discovered that Mr King was sat there on her bed.”

She said that King demanded some of the money Ms Sidibeh was paid for being a carer.

“He was raising his voice and being quite aggressive in his tone,” she said.

She tried to call an emergency line, but King grabbed the phone off her.

“He then punched her to the right knee, saying ‘I want that £60 back’,” added Miss Gibson-Lee.

Ms Sidibeh attempted to call the police, but again King took the phone and threw it away.

He then took out a kitchen knife and some gloves and threw them on her bed.

Ms Sidibeh asked King to leave; he initially said no, but when she screamed he let her go and she called the police.

Miss Gibson-Lee added: “Mrs Sidibeh is very clear that the knife that was left on the bed didn’t come from her home.”

During interview, King denied assault and said that he didn’t arrive with the knife.

In a victim impact statement, Ms Sidibeh said that she had been staying away from home because she felt “scared and vulnerable”.

She later put her home up for sale.

Mitigating, Francisca da Costa said that there was not a punch, but a “back hand” to the knee.

He was described as a “stable alcoholic” who was reducing his intake in the wake of his liver transplant.

She said he was repentant and apologised.

Sentencing King to a total of four months in jail, suspended for 18 months, along with a supervision order and a requirement to attend a course, Recorder Mr Hall said it was “doubly sad” that King carried out the acts against someone he “cared deeply for”.

King was also ordered not to contact the victim or go to her home and had to pay an £80 victim surcharge.