Receptionists chased with scissors during terrifying ordeal at Northampton surgery

A schizophrenic who threatened doctor's surgery receptionists with a pair of scissors when they refused his prescription has been sectioned.
Staff at Maple House were attacked with scissors when they refused a man's prescription request.Staff at Maple House were attacked with scissors when they refused a man's prescription request.
Staff at Maple House were attacked with scissors when they refused a man's prescription request.

The 29-year-old man became enraged when staff of Maple Access Partnership in Hazelwood Road did not sign his request for anti-psychotic medication on July 25, 2015.

He leapt behind the counter and grabbed a pair of scissors, before forcing the surgery into lock-down for half an hour.

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One member of staff was stabbed in the hand defending herself as she retreated into a safe room.

The man, who cannot be named, appeared at Northampton Crown Court yesterday charged with attempts to cause grievous bodily harm, affray and of causing criminal damage.

However after hearing reports from two separate doctors, judge Rupert Mayo chose not to send the man to prison, and instead sectioned the defendant to a psychiatric hospital indefinitely.

Judge Mayo said: "You were unhappy about the prescribing decision and in short you attacked the reception staff at that time.

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"They went into a safe room and you followed them having armed yourself with a pair of scissors.

"You spat at them, shouted at them and made violent threats - such that they believed they would be killed or a least injured."

The defendant, who has previous convictions for possessing offensive weapons and violence, was eventually restrained by police officers.

Defending for the 29-year-old, Carl Woolf said the man's previous crimes took place were before he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

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He will now remain at the Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottinghamshire under section 37 of the Mental Health Act and will only be released once doctors agree he does not pose a danger to society.

Speaking at court, the forensic psychiatrist tasked with compiling a report on the man, Doctor Nagaraj Konappa, agreed a hospital order was the best way to deal with the defendant after he showed violent outbursts during a previous spell in prison.