KILLER Keith Jones was identified as a serious risk to the public by police and probation workers two years before he carried out a fatal attack on a disabled man, it was revealed yesterday.

The 33-year-old, who suffers from an anti-social personality disorder, was described as a man who used weapons, was anti-authority, negative and intolerant, a jury was told.

The court heard that at a meeting in April 2003, which was attended by police officers, social workers and the probation service, it was disclosed that Jones posed "a risk of serious harm, whereby a potential event could happen at any time and the outcome could be serious".

The jury at Teesside Crown Court, where Jones is on trial for murder, was also told he was at high risk of harming his parents, siblings and the public. Jones denies murdering 62-year-old Robert Carter, known as Jack, who suffered from multiple sclerosis and was wheelchair-bound, at his home in New Marske, east Cleveland, but admits man-slaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The court has heard that Jones snapped and attacked Mr Carter with a table leg.

Adrian Waterman, for the prosecution, said a probation report presented to a public protection forum meeting, also in April 2003, identified Jones as a high risk to public safety, and said any member of the public could be at risk.

The meeting was also told the defendant did not regard himself as a dangerous or violent man, and minimised his offending by blaming other people for getting in his way.

The jury heard that Jones had 33 convictions, which covered 128 offences, 12 for offences against the person.

His first conviction for violence was in April 1986, aged only 14, for an offence of assault, occasioning actual bodily harm. No details of the attack were read out in court, but a full list of the convictions was given to the jury.

It was also revealed that Jones flew into a rage and armed himself with a knife and fork when arrested by police in September 2001 on suspicion of taking a car without consent. The court heard that officers were only able to control him after they sprayed him with CS gas.

The jury was told that police records at the time stated: "Officers who have not dealt with Jones before should never be complacent with him as he is extremely volatile and unpredictable."

The trial heard that at a public protection meeting, in February last year, Jones was regarded as a high risk and potentially dangerous.

In November, eight days after he was released from prison for assault, he was arrested in a car park in Redcar, east Cleveland, for an alleged driving offence, and police officers noted: "Jones was his usual self, behaving very strangely. His behaviour is unpredictable and he should be treated with caution at all times."

The jury also heard that Jones had been in court every year for nearly 20 years, except one.

In his closing speech, prosecutor Jeremy Richardson QC asked the jury to put aside their emotions about the case.

He said: "This is the clearest possible case of murder.

"He lost it and he killed defenceless Jack Carter, sat there in his wheelchair in his own home, and brutally killed him at that.

"It was done in anger, it was done in drink and the fact he has a lower threshold than others as part of his disorder does not substantially impair his responsibilities."

Tim Roberts QC, defending, said: "This was a volatile, unpredictable person at large in society. This was not the work of a normal person who simply loses their temper. This was a senseless killing, it was an act of an insensible mind."

The trial continues.