A DISABLED man was knocked into a bath during a row with a neighbour who befriended him.

Peter Donaldson, of Stourport, got angry after William Hyde spilled some cider on to the floor, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Donaldson also sold Mr Hyde's car and his own brother-in-law's van for scrap without their knowledge to fund heavy drinking, said Jane Sarginson, prosecuting.

The defendant cashed benefit cheques belonging to Mr Hyde, pocketing £676.

Donaldson, 48, of Hermitage Way, Stourport, pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm and theft.

He asked for eight further offences of obtaining cash by deception to be taken into consideration.

Jailing him for 10 months, Judge Andrew Geddes said he had behaved "in a thoroughly ugly way".

He said the attack on a vulnerable man was despicable and the thefts were mean offences.

On August 9 last year, Donaldson - who regularly called at Mr Hyde's home and cooked his meals - slapped and punched him.

He fell into the bath and the defendant refused to let him out for a time.

In the same month, Donaldson sold Mr Hyde's £500 Skoda for £50 scrap and his brother-in-law's £700 Transit van for £90.

He had a record of 67 previous offences going back to 1973.

Ian Strongman, defending, said Donaldson was "drowning his sorrows" in alcohol after his wife's death from cancer.

He had been genuinely kind to Mr Hyde but did not recall the attack because he was drunk.

Mr Strongman said he had put most of his offending behaviour behind him before this spate. "He went off the rails temporarily because of the loss of his wife whom he looked after for two years. He is ashamed."