A carer in Willesden who attacked a postman with a hammer for disturbing him as he watched daytime TV has avoided jail after claiming that he would lose his council flat.

Peter Jagroo, 56, has been given a suspended sentence despite the court hearing he has shown no remorse for the attack in September 2014.

Southwark Crown Court heard he lost his temper when the postie rang his doorbell to be let into Solidarity House in Park Avenue which is managed by Brent Housing Partnership.

Jagroo, who is a carer for his mother, hurled abuse at the postman down the intercom before grabbing the rusty hammer from his flat and trying to hit him when he entered the building.

Luckily the postman wrestled him to the ground and grabbed the hammer from him.

Jagroo has a previous conviction dating back to 1996 for wielding a sword in public, for which he was fined £250.

He had denied affray but was convicted by jurors.

His lawyer pleaded with the judge not to send him to jail as he would lose his accommodation.

Michael Hall said: “He had a trial, he’s shown no remorse or contrition and he has to deal with that.

“I would ask your honour to suspend any sentence. If your honour was to pass a sentence of immediate custody, he would lose his accommodation.”

Sentencing him to eight months in jail suspended for two years, Judge Deborah Taylor said Jagroo’s reaction was ‘wholly disproportionate’. She said: “It’s only because he grabbed the hammer that you didn’t cause him serious harm.”

She added: “It’s not in the public interest that a 56-year-old man who’s not been in prison before receives an immediate custodial sentence.”