A MAN who attacked his brother with a lump hammer and admitted he had intended to kill him has escaped a jail sentence.

Edwin Cunion held his brother Everard round the throat and hit him over the head with the 3lb hammer after becoming convinced he was ripping him off, Bournemouth Crown Court was told.

Judge Samuel Wiggs was told Cunion, 48, who shared a home with his brother in Fairmile Road, Christchurch, told police after the attack: "I wanted him to die."

The 48-year-old, who now lives in a probation hostel in Weymouth, was given a three-year Community Rehabilitation Order and ordered to submit to treatment for a schizoid personality disorder.

The court heard the defendant and his brother had lived in the same house for 40 years.

Cunion thought his brother was cheating him over household bills and bought a hammer with the intention of using it on his brother.

Charles Gabb, prosecuting, told the court: "He had been practising hitting it at various items, imagining it was his brother."

On December 4 last year Everard Cunion, who had been working away, came home for the weekend and was attacked by his brother in the kitchen, the court heard.

"He extracted the hammer from his pocket and whacked him on the head," added Mr Gabb.

Cunion was originally charged with attempted murder, later reduced to wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm. He admitted the offence.

Sentencing, Judge Wiggs said it is unusual in such a case for a sentence which does not include imprisonment or a hospital order.

He said a conference has been held by the Multi Agency Public Protection Panel to discuss the case and said psychiatric reports recommend treatment in the community.

"If it had not been for the medical recommendations there is no doubt that I would have sent the defendant to prison for a substantial period," said Judge Wiggs.

"But in this case, is there any point in putting the public to the expense of keeping him in prison when there is an alternative?

"His condition is treatable and provided he is kept away from unsupervised contact with his brother until he is a great deal better it is highly unlikely that there is a risk to anyone."

Judge Wiggs said a condition of the sentence is that Cunion has no contact with his brother, except through solicitors, unless supervised by the probation service.

First published: October 27