[A] MENTAL health unit patient who set fire to his bed and assaulted two staff members has been made the subject of a hospital order.
Gavin Grant McAlpine, 39, was found by a jury at Carlisle Crown Court earlier this year to have committed five criminal acts in the space of six days. These took place while he was an in-patient at the West Cumberland Hospital’s Yewdale Ward last November.
Jurors heard how McAlpine – deemed unfit to be tried in court on five charges – spat directly in the face of a health care assistant and tipped food over the head of an activities co-ordinator. He also threw a plastic cup which struck the same health care assistant; caused £1,000 damage by setting fire to his bed and bedding; and damaged a newly-painted ceiling.
McAlpine denied three assault charges, reckless arson and damaging property, but jurors concluded after hearing evidence that he had committed the acts.
At the crown court today (MON), schizophrenia sufferer McAlpine, previously of Wellington Row, Whitehaven, was made subject to a hospital order as an alternative to custody. Judge James Adkin also concluded it was necessary to impose restrictions on McAlpine to protect the public from serious harm.
