Two men threatened to slash a disabled man with a knife and cover his head with a bin liner while attempting to rob his bedsit, a court heard.

Stephen Gillespie, 40, of Abbey Place, Oxford, and Victor Silva, 32, of Speedwell Street, Oxford, both denied attempted robbery at Oxford Crown Court on Wednesday, October 16.

Gillespie also denied a separate charge of burglary.

The men were accused of assaulting David Bishop at his home in Gibb's Crescent, Oxford, June 15, this year.

Gillespie was also accused of taking £600 and a camcorder after entering Mr Bishop's flat through an open window, between June 9 and 13.

Andrew Rodger, prosecuting, said the pair targeted the man, who has a disability which makes it difficult for him to move around, because they knew he was vulnerable.

He added: "Mr Bishop is a somewhat lonely, indefensible character who had already been subjected to an act of crime by one of the defendants. They knew he was an ideal candidate for this kind of crime.

They went to his house and attempted to rob him and when he started to scream threatened him with callous violence."

The men denied threatening Mr Bishop with a knife and said they had gone to his house to pick up £20 that was owed to Silva for some DVDs. Silva claimed Mr Bishop had made up the accusations because he did not want the police to know that he had bought four stolen DVDs from him.

Hugh Williams, defending, said: "Mr Bishop did not want to be tarnished by the fact that he was buying stolen goods so made up this fairytale."

In his summary, Nick Syfret, defending Gillespie, asked the jury to consider Mr Bishop's motives for lying about the attempted robbery. He added: "Are you sure there was in fact a crime at all?"

Judge Mary-Jane Mowat finished her summing up and the jury was due to retire to consider its verdict on Thursday, October 17.