DAVID Ferguson threatened to kill his neighbour after water was turned off in their block of flats.Today the 60-year-old is being an 18 month prison sentence.

DAVID Ferguson threatened to kill his neighbour after water was turned off in their block of flats.

Today the 60-year-old is being an 18 month prison sentence.

Ferguson threatened Imman Mohammed with a knife before grabbing her throat and punching her during the incident in St Francis Tower, Franciscan Way, Ipswich, on November 19 last year.

He pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm when he appeared at Bury St Edmunds Crown Court yesterday.

Charles Kellett, prosecuting, said Ferguson, who lives on the ninth floor of the tower block, was one of a number of tenants who had become annoyed after problems with the water supply in the flats.

Miss Mohammed had gone to see Ferguson in his flat with another man to try and calm him down before the second man went to work leaving the pair alone.

Mr Kellett said: "Miss Mohammed continued to try and talk to Mr Ferguson and calm him down and she told him she was scared.

"But he said he would show her how scared he could make her."

Ferguson, the prosecution continued, then asked Miss Mohammed to fight him before coming at her with a knife.

He then grabbed her throat before the pair struggled and fell to the ground.

Ferguson punched her in the face and said he wanted her to die, Mr Kellett told the court.

Miss Mohammed, who sustained a swollen cheek and eye, managed to get away before phoning the police from a neighbour's flat.

Mandy McLean, defending, said the pair had been in a relationship and Mr Ferguson had tried to help Miss Mohammed, whose flat was also without water.

Mrs McLean said: "The two went into a flat and shared a glass of wine. Miss Mohammed received a phone call and after Mr Ferguson overheard this, he asked her to leave. At that stage, she started shouting and screaming at him."

While Ferguson admitted he did punch Miss Mohammed quite hard in the head and there was a struggle, he said she had instigated the confrontation and that he sustained a cut to the head in the incident.

Judge Nicholas Beddard said Ferguson had a string of previous convictions, including some for violence, and said he had no choice but to give a custodial sentence of 18 months in prison.