A man who throttled his neighbour until she turned blue has been released from jail after nine months awaiting sentence.

East Anglian Daily Times: Graham White was handed a three-year criminal behaviour order for attacking his next door neighbourGraham White was handed a three-year criminal behaviour order for attacking his next door neighbour (Image: Archant)

Graham White, 60, of Cherrytree Road, Great Cornard, attacked his neighbour as she clutched her two-year-old son outside their home last October.

Gerard Pounder, prosecuting at Ipswich Crown Court, said White turned to alcohol after his wife died five years before the attack, and that his neighbour had noticed increasingly bizarre behaviour leading up to October 2, when she left home with her son and saw him staring at her. When she asked if he was OK, he replied with a series of insults and threatened to kill her.

“In order to diffuse the situation, she said it wasn’t a nice thing to say and that he didn’t really mean it,” said Mr Pounder.

“He charged at her. In an effort to protect her son, she turned her back to Mr White, who ran into her, causing her and her son to hit the fence of the neighbouring property. She was very frightened and clung onto her son to make sure he was safe.”

White then dragged her to the ground and wrapped his legs around her waist, squeezing her neck with one hand and punching her in the face with the other.

Mr Pounder said she felt herself “begin to fade and lose grip on her son”, when another neighbour saw what was happening and shouted for White to stop. When another bystander grabbed White’s arm, he froze and let go.

White was arrested and admitted to a mental health unit for two weeks before being first charged with attempted murder but then admitting actual bodily harm. He was assessed by two psychiatric doctors, who agreed he had suffered delirium brought on by alcohol withdrawal.

Representing White, Stephen Dyble said: “He has a drink dependency, mismanagement of which is likely to lead to more bizarre behaviour or violence.”

Sentencing White, Judge Rupert Overbury called the attack “unprovoked but unpremeditated”. He said the victim has “suffered terribly”, and that he would have sentenced White to 16 months in prison but, having served more than half that period in custody, would be subject to a three year community order, banning him from the Sudbury area and from contacting the victim, and requiring him to take any treatment deemed necessary to his rehabilitation.

Detective Matt Ross praised the victim’s bravery and actions at the time of the attack, and that of bystanders who intervened. He said it was pleasing to see sentencing reflect White’s needs, adding: “Suffolk police hope this case will help the wider community understand that cases of antisocial behaviour are taken very seriously.”