An 84-year-old Suffolk man who threatened to kill a woman and to burn her house down during a row while they were having dinner has been given a suspended prison sentence.

James Smith and the victim, who was also elderly, had been living together long for 16 years although they weren’t in a relationship when the verbal argument started during the evening of March 4 this year, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Smith had picked up a steak knife and threatened to harm himself and the victim with it, said Isobel Ascherson, prosecuting.

He had followed her to the bathroom where she called the police, and he had injured her when she fell over while he was trying to grab hold of her phone.

“He made threats to kill her which he intended her to believe,” said Miss Ascherson.

She said that during the incident Smith had got a can of petrol from the shed and threaten to destroy the property.

The court heard that the couple were no longer living together, and Smith had moved into sheltered accommodation in Claydon.

Smith, formerly of Thedwastre Close, Elmswell, admitted threatening to kill the victim, assaulting her causing her actual bodily harm and threatening to commit arson.

Sentencing Smith, Judge Nicola Talbot-Hadley said that whatever was going on with him medically at the time of the offences his behaviour had been exacerbated by alcohol.

She said the victim had been left shaken by the incident.

Smith was given an eight-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay a £185 victim surcharge.

Nicholas Bleaney for Smith, who walks with the aid of a frame, said his client suffered from dementia and his condition had deteriorated recently.

“He is a frail old man,” he added.