A KILLER who snapped and attacked his disabled landlord with a table leg said he had been assaulted first.

Keith Jones told police he could not remember killing Robert Carter, 62, known as Jack, on January 4, at his east Cleveland home, but said the disabled father had attacked him.

He went on to say Mr Carter, who had multiple sclerosis and was wheelchair-bound, rose to his feet and threatened him after a row over a telephone call.

Jones described the disabled father as acting "like a monster", but the jury had previously been told Mr Carter was a happy, well-liked man who could not walk unaided.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Jones had bragged he was a good friend of Charles Bronson, the man dubbed Britain's most notorious prisoner, and the pair had exchanged letters.

At the third day of Jones's trial yesterday, police interviews were read to the jury, in which the 33-year-old said he and Mr Carter began rowing after Jones interrupted a telephone call.

In an interview, Jones said: "He said to me 'that was very disrespectful what you did, you should not have done that'. He kept going on about it and saying things I did not understand."

Homeless Jones, who has previous convictions for assault, downed two bottles of sherry before the killing. He said Mr Carter got out of his wheelchair and grabbed hold of him.

He told officers: "I felt physically and mentally threatened by the way he was going on. I snapped and punched him in the eye or the face.

"Every time I was hitting him, it looked like he was getting bigger and bigger.

"From then on, it was just a blur. I cannot remember exactly what happened."

After the killing, Jones went to the Royal pub, in Redcar, for more drinks before returning to Mr Carter's home in Sandmoor Road, New Marske, and going to bed.

When he was charged with murder on January 7, Jones told police: "Whatever happened, I did not mean to kill anybody."

Jones denies murder but admits manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The trial continues.