A LODGER accused his landlady of prostitution before knocking her unconscious in a row about a £6,000 debt, a court heard yesterday.

Harrogate magistrates heard how police found a broken iron at the scene of John Goodrick's attack on Ann Cunningham at her flat in the town. But she had been unable to be categoric about whether it had been used as a weapon.

Mrs Cunningham told investigators she had turned her back on 56-year-old Goodrick.

"The next thing I knew, I had been struck on the right side of the head. I fell to the floor and he kicked and stamped on my head calling me a dirty rotten prostitute.

"I think I went unconscious because the next thing I knew the police were there," she said.

Goodrick, now of Stonefall Avenue, Harrogate, pleaded guilty to causing Ms Cunningham actual bodily harm and failing to answer bail and was ordered to do 80-hours of unpaid community work and pay £69 costs.

His solicitor Geoffrey Rogers said he had been friendly with Ms Cunningham for a decade and when he sold his flat to pay off debts, she allowed him to live in her home.

He loaned her £6,000 of the sale proceeds but when she asked him to leave he wanted his money back. There had been an argument which had turned to violence.

Mr Rogers said Goodrick, a single man who had spent many years working abroad as an instrument engineer in the construction industry, was filled with remorse over what he had done and at breaking the law for the first time in his life.

He has started legal proceedings to recover his cash.