A DRUNKEN drifter pulled his pensioner mother from her bed and dragged her around her home because he could not find his supper, a court heard.

Kevin Williams was told he had behaved in a disgraceful way when he attacked the 66-year-old in her bungalow in March.

Williams was spared jail after a judge heard he had spent the equivalent of a nine-month sentence on remand and was determined to beat his drink problem.

The 44-year-old was given a 12-month jail term, suspended for two years, and ordered to undergo 18 months of supervision.

The judge, Recorder Peter Collier, told him: "It is difficult to understand how anyone, even in drink, would behave in the way you did that night."

Teesside Crown Court heard how Williams left his mother, Ann, with a cut to her head and covered in bruises.

The assault, on March 21, was the second time he had harmed his mother, and was his fifth conviction for violence in 20 years.

Sue Jacobs, prosecuting, said Williams turned up at the bungalow at 11pm and woke his mother, demanding to know where his dinner was.

Mrs Williams said she had made some stew, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her from the bed, screaming: "Show me."

She was dragged around and then pushed backwards and fell against the bath.

Williams was screaming about his hatred of women and clawed at his mother's face as she pleaded with him to stop.

Williams denied allegations that he deliberately stamped on his mother's legs and that he tried to strangle her, but accepted he may have trod on her in his drunken state.

Mike Bosomworth, in mitigation, said his client had been off alcohol while on remand and had a desire to stay sober to rebuild relationships with Mrs Williams and his partner.

Williams, of Cargo Fleet Lane, Middlesbrough, admitted assault causing bodily harm.