A PATIENT launched a campaign of threats against hospital medics after claiming he was badly treated, a court was told.

Robert Laverick, 33, who was suffering a mental illness, sent threatening letters, and even produced a compact disc, circulating it around Dryburn Hospital, Durham City.

He warned of "severe retribution", particularly to a doctor and consultant surgeon.

Durham Crown Court was told that among the correspondence was a newspaper cutting about a bungling doctor being killed by a patient. Laverick also quoted from films such as Pulp Fiction, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Silence of the Lambs.

Paul Cross, prosecuting, said Laverick's campaign followed treatment for a dislocated shoulder and broken collar bone.

He was operated on over two years, ending last November, but claimed that in the first operation a piece of collar bone was broken and the treatment resulted from the mistake.

Mr Cross said Laverick was certified as suffering from a mental illness and was admitted to hospital. As a result, his condition had improved.

Jamie Adams, mitigating, said Laverick was suffering from acute delusion disorder, but responded well to treatment and was no longer considered a risk.

Laverick, of Avenue Vivian, Fencehouses, Wearside, admitted harassment and was given a nine-month prison sentence suspended for two years