A MAN who set about his aunt with an iron bar in a drunken assault at a family gathering has been jailed for a year.

Kevin Bulmer had gone to the home of Sarah-Jane Barnes in November last year for a get-together with other relatives.

But after getting upset about his girlfriend not turning up, the 24-year-old got drunk and then launched the attack on his mum’s sister.

Bulmer, who now lives in Dorset, pleaded not guilty to a charge of actual bodily harm but was convicted following a trial in August.

Miss Barnes told the jury her mum and two sisters and their families joined her for the Sunday afternoon party at her house on Watercrook Mews in Westlea.

She said Bulmer, who is the son of sister Alison, arrived between 3pm and 4pm when there was a good atmosphere at the bash.

He then went off for about an hour as he was due to see his girlfriend, but she had not come, and when he returned it was clear he had been drinking.

The jury heard an argument then broke out between him and another of his aunts, who was not drinking, where he was abusive towards her.

Miss Barnes said she then started to argue with him and when he told her to shut up she warned him he would have to go if he carried on.

“He was in the conservatory talking aggressively. He had a dumb bell bar in his hand waving it up and down and shouting like that, getting aggressive,” she said.

She said he called her a fat so and so, saying that he was going to hit her.

As he approached she said she pushed him away but he then shoved her backwards, causing her to fall to the floor, so she told him to leave.

She said she followed him into the front garden to ensure he would go as he was shouting and being abusive.

“I swore at him to tell him to go away and he just hit me with the dumb bell bar,” she said.

“It happened really quickly. He just came towards me. He banged my left arm with it. I didn’t see it coming.

“All I can remember is bad pain. I was just crying, saying at the same time he was then hitting himself to the head with the bar.”

Miss Barnes suffered two bad cuts to her arm, which it was initially feared was broken, and she still had the scars from the wounds which bled heavily.

When he was arrested soon after he told the police it was a joke, saying he would ‘go no comment’ when he was questioned, which he did.

Tony Bignall, defending, said as a result of the incident he moved away and was now living with his pregnant girlfriend in Ferndown, near Bournemouth.

He said he had kept himself out of trouble since the incident and should he be jailed asked if it could be short enough so he could attend the birth of his child in February.

Passing sentence Judge Euan Ambrose said: “At trial you gave a completely dishonest account of what happened. The jury disbelieved you and you were convicted.

“Now there is a pre-sentence report in which you show no remorse. The only concern you show is for yourself.

“It paints a depressing picture of someone who doesn’t seem to have understood that what he did was quite wrong.

“There is no doubt that this offence is so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence can be justified.”