A PATIENT on a mental health ward at Queen's Park Hospital threatened staff and patients with a chair before barricading himself in a day room.

Blackburn magistrates heard that Scott Kinlan eventually threw a chair through a window before he was subdued by staff who forced their way into the room.

Kinlan, 22, pleaded guilty to affray and was given an absolute discharge after magistrates heard from defence solicitor Basharat Ditta that his client would be going to live with his father in Scotland. There, Mr Ditta said, he would get the family support he needed.

Mr Ditta said Kinlan had been in custody for six weeks, the equivalent of a three-month sentence, since committing the offence.

"He was on Ward F4 on a voluntary basis because he wanted to get some help," said Mr Ditta. "He accepts that he picked up a chair and held it aloft and after that he just panicked.

Mr Ditta said Kinlan had come to Blackburn with his mother after his parents separated when he was nine-years-old.

"He got in with the wrong crowd and started dabbling with drugs such as amphetamine and ecstasy and his use of those led to a form of paranoia developing," he added.