A man has appeared in court charged with poisoning his neighbour by pouring bleach into a carton of orange juice.

Frenchman Julien Randoulet Alexandre, 35, was before Kirklees Magistrates and indicated he would be admitting the charges.

The court heard that the incident occurred at an address in Prince Street, Primrose Hill, on January 10.

The property is home to a number of occupants who share a communal area.

The court heard that one of the residents, Michael Stamp, drank orange juice from a carton left in the fridge.

The orange juice was said to have contained bleach poured into the drink by Alexandre.

Prosecutor Vanessa Jones said that he also put some plant fertiliser in some milk knowing that Mr Stamp would probably drink it.

Alexandre faces two charges of unlawfully and maliciously administering a poison or other destructive or noxious thing with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy.

He also has against him a related charge of criminal damage to a Ford Fiesta belonging to Mr Stamp.

Magistrates told Alexandre, aided throughout proceedings by a French interpreter, that his case was so serious that it must be dealt with by a crown court.

The software programmer, formally of Trinity Street in Huddersfield but now living in Hackney in London, indicated through his solicitor that he would plead guilty to the charges.

He will first appear at Leeds Crown Court on January 27.

In the meantime he is banned from contacting Mr Stamp or entering Huddersfield.