A nurse who claimed stress at work led him to carry a pillowcase around as a security blanket has lost his claim for compensation.

Peter Cusworth was suing the NHS for £130,000, claiming he was left a nervous wreck by the strain of trying to run two hospital units at the same time.

The 41-year-old said that he had suffered from depression, chest infections and panic attacks.

But he lost his claim for damages yesterday, after a judge ruled that senior staff at the Monkton Hall Hospital, in Jarrow, South Tyneside, had done everything they could to help him.

Mr Cusworth had told the court how, at the height of his illness, he carried the pillowcase around as a source of comfort.

He claimed that, since 1996, he had an excessive workload and had been forced to work 13-hour night-shifts, with a lack of breaks and support, because of a shortage of staff.

But South Tyneside Health-care NHS Trust claimed Mr Cusworth had sufficient training and experience to deal with the patients in his care, and his mental state was as a result of personal problems.

Judge Alaric Dalziel agreed and said: "I find that the claimant's workload was not unduly stressful, it was well within his capabilities.

"He had the assistance of a superior available if needed. In fact he didn't need it, and did not call upon it."

Mr Cusworth, who was retired on medical grounds in February 1999, still takes anti-depressants.

Since leaving his job, he has left his home in Jesmond, Newcastle, and has moved in with his mother in Alnwick, Northumberland.

The judge upheld the trust's case. Costs will be considered at a later date.