AN alcoholic said he had a gun and was going to kill the women he loved, an Ipswich court heard.Stephen Whitehead was remanded in custody by South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court because of the seriousness of the offence.

Helen Skene

AN alcoholic said he had a gun and was going to kill the women he loved, an Ipswich court heard.

Stephen Whitehead was remanded in custody by South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court because of the seriousness of the offence.

The court head that Whitehead, 52, told his care worker Roberta Owen that he planned to kill a woman called “Dee”. He asked the Anglia Care Trust worker if she would visit him in prison.

He said: “I'm going to kill Dee because I love her and she doesn't love me.”

He told police: “If I can't have her no one else can.”

Andrea Reynolds, prosecuting, said Whitehead, of Norwich Road, Ipswich, appeared drunk and agitated when he was with Miss Owen on March 12. He told her he had a gun in a bag which he had bought on the street for £50.

Whitehead, who had previous convictions for arson, criminal damage, dishonesty and bail act offences, pleaded guilty to making threats to kill.

The court heard that he drank around 20 units of white cider a day.

He said: “I feel ashamed about what I've done. It was just a stupid statement. I do not want to go to prison and I don't want to hurt anyone.”

A mental health nurse said he had assessed Whitehead and the only mental health issue was depression brought on by alcoholism. He said Whitehead had been prescribed anti-depressants.

Magistrates adjourned sentencing until April 3 and ordered a pre-sentence report. Bail was refused.