A MENTALLY ill man from Nelson will make a fifth appearance before magistrates tomorrow after being repeatedly sent back to Lancaster Farm young offenders institute because of a lack of local mental health resources to deal with him.

Neil Anthony Green, 19, of no fixed address, was diagnosed with acute attention deficiency hyperactive disorder at the age of seven. He has now spent more than seven weeks in the hospital wing of the institution after bosses at Burnley General Hospital said he was too disruptive for their psychiatric ward.

Green was arrested at the ward in July after damaging a wardrobe door and charged with criminal damage.

Green's solicitor, Dermot Woodhead, said the case was a "sad and sorry tale of shortcomings within the mental health services locally."

A place has been found at a health authority home in Rossendale but Neil has remained in a prison environment until that becomes available.

His parents plan to sue Burnley Health Care Trust. His mother Susan Green said: "Their handling of Neil's case has been chaotic. After Neil damaged the wardrobe, that should have been dealt with by the ward.

"The police should never have been involved. Burnley General Hospital put Neil in prison because they did not have adequate provision for him.

"If they are not able to cope with somebody, they should refer them to someone that has," she added.

Mrs Green and her husband Stephen have made a formal complaint to the Community Health Council.

They claim that while he has been in prison he has threatened to take his life, has been stabbed with a pencil by another inmate and is not being given full medication.

They have chronicled everything that happened to Green in Burnley General and will send copies of the document to the General Medical Council and the health authority ombudsman.

Frank Clifford, chairman of the health watchdog, Community Health Council said the case highlighted a lack of secure hospital accommodation for people with problems like Neil.

A spokesman for the MIND (National Association for Mental Health) said: "Because Neil had been sectioned he would not be in the best frame of mind to be responsible for his actions. You need to look at why a person is in there and we would agree that calling in the police and sending someone to prison is not necessarily appropriate action."

If at tomorrow's hearing a place for Green is still not available, it seems likely he will be sent back to Lancaster Farm for the fifth time.