A mentally-ill patient has been detained indefinitely in a high security unit after he attacked staff at Stockton Hall Hospital near York.

Brighton Ncube's behaviour was so disturbed, he was kept in isolation for much of the time he was at the psychiatric hospital in Stockton-on-the-Forest, York Crown Court heard.

At a finding of fact hearing, staff told a jury how he suddenly attacked two healthcare workers and tried to grab one of the victims' eyes.

"He was kicking me, he was punching me,.I was in the corner trying to cover my face," said victim Iwan Jones. "He was shouting "Die, you ......". I was losing consciousness at the time."

Mr Jones said the attack was one of the reasons he no longer works at the hospital. He suffered cuts above his eye and to his mouth.

The jury decided Ncube, 34, had committed the act of causing actual bodily harm. The finding enabled the Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC to make a hospital order under the Mental Health Act with a restriction order.

Ncube will now be detained at Rampton Hospital until doctors and the Ministry of Justice decide that he is no longer a danger to the public. On his discharge from hospital, he will be subject to conditions aimed at ensuring he doesn't have a relapse and to protect the public.

The judge excused Ncube from attending the hearing. He was moved to Rampton Hospital following the incident in January 2014 and doctors there said they were only prepared to let him attend via video link if he was handcuffed for the hearing.

Consultant forensic psychiatrist Christopher Clark told Judge Batty that Ncube was very ill and displaying such disturbed behaviour that he was being nursed in an isolation unit at the high security hospital in Nottinghamshire.

Ncube has been diagnosed as being psychotic. Earlier in the year, he was judged to be unfit to stand trial because of his mental condition and his case was adjourned for the finding of fact hearing.

The jury heard that at the time of the attack, four staff had gathered in an observation room for two isolation rooms in a ward.

Ncube was in one room, which he had fouled, and they wanted to move him to the other, which was clean.

One of the staff opened the room's door to give him a pair of shorts, he pushed the door open and attacked Mr Jones.