THE family of a murdered man said last night the killer was not the only person with blood on his hands.

Relatives of disabled father Robert "Jack" Carter are to start civil proceedings after Keith Jones was jailed for life for murder - having been deemed a high risk to the public two years earlier.

The homeless 33-year-old showed "breath-taking callousness", said judge Mr Justice Holland, after he snapped and attacked Mr Carter after a row at his home in January.

Jones, an alcoholic with convictions for violence, visited the multiple sclerosis sufferer's house to rent a room but instead beat him to death with a table leg.

He had pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, but was found guilty of murder by a majority verdict of 11-1 by a jury.

After Jones was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court yesterday, Mr Carter's son Jonathan, 34, of Saltburn, Cleveland, said: "A lot of questions remain unanswered.

"It is evident Keith Jones was not the only party with blood on his hands."

The court heard that Jones, who suffers from an anti-social personality disorder, was identified as a serious risk to the public by police, social services and probation workers in April 2003.

He was described as a man who used weapons, was anti-authority, negative and intolerant and posed "a risk of serious harm, whereby a potential event could happen at any time".

Only months later, he tried to attack his friend Darren Cooper with a samurai sword and was arrested.

In another meeting in 2003, the probation service identified Jones as a high risk to public safety, and said any member of the public, including his family, could be at risk.

Again, in February 2004, a public protection forum concluded he was a high risk and potentially dangerous.

The probation service said it could not comment on the case, but said a public protection forum did have the power to ensure extra checks were made by police on the movements of an individual who is causing them concern.

The jury heard Jones had 33 convictions, which covered 128 offences, 12 against people. His first conviction for assault was as a schoolboy of 14. Then, he beat up a teacher who innocently tapped Jones on the head. He also had convictions for other attacks, including stabbing a teenage boy with a knife on Redcar seafront when he was 18.

The father-of-five's mother, Thelma Jones, a home care worker with Redcar Borough Council for 11 years, broke her code of conduct to pass Mr Carter's telephone number - which should have been kept confidential - to her son.

A spokesman for the council said Mrs Jones, of Redcar, agreed to resign from her job.

The council's director of health and social services, Maurice Bates, said: "Sadly, we were not aware she had been in contact with Mr Carter over his apparent wish to have a lodger, but Mrs Jones knew she was breaking her agreed code of conduct.

"We have also investigated our own role in this tragic incident, but the speed of events made it impossible for us to act before its awful conclusion.

"We regard this sad episode as a very rare incident, but we have already taken steps to reinforce our code of conduct."

Mr Carter, who lived alone at Sandmoor Road, New Marske, east Cleveland, suffered horrific injuries. His skull and jaw were fractured, his face was almost unrecognisable and he had bruising on his body, broken ribs and defensive wounds.

The 62-year-old, described as popular and well-liked, was first attacked as he sat in his wheelchair in his lounge before he was beaten with a crutch and dragged to a downstairs toilet where he was further attacked with a leg from a computer table.

Jones, who had drunk vast amounts of alcohol, left the house and went out drinking in a T-shirt spattered with blood. He even invited three people to Mr Carter's house, where his victim lay dead.

Detective Inspector Colin Galloway, a policeman for 28 years, said it was the most brutal and violent assault he had ever witnessed.

He said: "I hope that Jones is never released into the public arena again. Jones is a very, very dangerous man."

Jones was ordered to serve a minimum term of 13 and a half years.

Mr Justice Holland said that even after he served the tariff, his prospect of release was not good and there was a heavy burden on any parole board to preserve public safety.