AN accident and emergency department had to be evacuated after a patient turned up with knives and threatened to stab people.

Anthony Chapman told police he had been hearing voices telling him to harm others and had been trawling the streets looking for victims for three days.

He confessed to feeling "shitty" after taking crack cocaine and was stopping members of the public asking them for a light or the time while thinking about harming them.

The 46-year-old had gone to see his doctor, but he had been sent to the University Hospital of Hartlepool.

His barrister Amrit Jandoo told Teesside Crown Court: "It is clear through his own admission and behaviour he needed help, and wanted help, and the only way he could try to access it was to act in such an appealing way.

"There is nothing I can say which minimises the seriousness of his actions when he entered the hospital."

Chapman, of Murray Street, Hartlepool, admitted possessing an offensive weapon on December 29 and was jailed for 20 months.

Judge Simon Hickey told him: "There is a right concern among people in this country of people who carry knives in public. There is no good reason to carry such weapons, and it is a risk many members of the public fear.

"It takes seconds to use such a weapon. They can cause significant damage and death in moments."