Hospital in chaos during nine-hour roof standoff

Gary Hughes believed hospital staff were working with criminals to kill him

A man who caused chaos and more than £25,000 of damage at a busy hospital during a nine-hour standoff has been jailed for 16 months.

Gary Hughes, 41, ripped up marble tiles, caused medical appointments to be postponed and terrified seriously ill children at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI), the city's crown court heard.

He had taken refuge on a first-floor roof inside the main entrance atrium while in the grips of a mental health episode in which he believed medical staff wanted to kill him, the court heard.

Hughes, of no fixed abode, admitted criminal damage and intentionally causing a public nuisance.

He climbed over a barrier and on to the roof of a reception area at about 07:40 BST on 3 June, prosecutors said.

Once there, he threw debris at people below him and broke several windows, the court heard.

'Harvest organs'

Parts of the hospital had to be closed, patients had to take large detours and 40 medical staff were taken from their duties to keep people safe.

Hughes, who had been released from prison a fortnight before, eventually came down a ladder at 16:55 and was arrested, later telling police he had wanted to get attention as he feared someone was trying to hurt him.

In a statement read to the court, a spokesman for the RVI said Hughes' actions had massively affected the hospital that day.

Children in a nearby ward, including some being treated for cancer, were "very frightened" by the noise he was making, with those in rooms overlooking the area needing to be moved out.

In mitigation, Liam O'Brien said Hughes, who had dozens of previous convictions, was in mental health crisis and "genuinely believed" organised criminals were working with hospital staff to kill him, harvest his organs and hurt his family.

Judge Penelope Moreland said Hughes caused an "extraordinary amount of harm" and many of those affected were "frail" and vulnerable.

She said it was accepted he held a "genuine but delusional belief" that his life was in danger, but that did not affect his ability to know what he was doing was wrong.