A dad-of-five who suspected his long-term girlfriend was cheating on him swapped her medication for laxatives.

Richard Black was caught creeping into the kitchen on a CCTV camera the couple had installed at their Dover home.

When told by the mother of his children that she was feeling seriously unwell, he tried to blame her illness on unsafe seafood.

But when he appeared at Canterbury Crown Court on Tuesday, the 51-year-old pleaded guilty to a charge of administering poison with intent to annoy.

However, he was spared jail, with a judge accepting he had not intended to cause actual bodily harm with the “calculated attack”.

The court heard how Black’s partner had begun to feel unwell in June of last year.

In a statement read to the court, the woman described at first feeling light-headed and then faint before her symptoms became progressively worse and she began to suffer from sickness and diarrhoea.

“This was a calculated attack with a significant psychological impact…”

On June 11, two days after unwittingly taking the laxatives, she checked the CCTV from the kitchen and spotted Black meddling with her medication the night before she fell ill.

She then sent the footage to a friend, who passed it on to police.

The same day, she confronted Black and he attempted to blame her illness on poorly prepared prawns.

Despite his excuses, the self-employed jet washer was arrested and bailed until his appearance in court this week.

Nadia Semlali, defending, told the court how Black had discovered footage from the same CCTV feed that caused him to believe his partner was being unfaithful.

She added: “He is very remorseful of his actions. It was very out of character for him.

“He saw something on the CCTV that triggered something in his mind but this is an action which he does not intend to repeat.”

Judge Simon Taylor KC addressed the defendant, telling him this was a “relatively unusual offence” not seen often in the crown court.

He added that although Black’s offending was at the lower end of the scale for this charge, his actions had a “significant psychological impact” on his victim.

In his sentencing remarks, the judge addressed Black directly: “Following relationship turmoil, you took a wholly inappropriate route.

“I have accepted that you did not intend to cause actual bodily harm but this was a calculated attack with a significant psychological impact.”

Black, of Vale View Road, was handed a five-year restraining order banning contact with his ex-partner.

He was also given an 18-month community order with 180 hours of unpaid work.

Black must pay costs of £535, plus the statutory surcharge.