A PSYCHIATRIC patient who climbed on the roof of York Hospital must learn that others need medical help just as much as he does, York Magistrates Court heard.

District judge Adrian Lower was sentencing a mentally ill knifeman who climbed onto the roof of York Hospital and smashed his way into a ward.

Last month the court heard how paramedics had taken Michael Anthony Gillyon to the Accident and Emergency Department in the early hours of July 7 because he had psychiatric problems.

He was unhappy at the response he got from medical staff there, he had run through the doctors’ rest area and onto the roof, before breaking into the ward.

When he was arrested, he pulled out a kitchen knife with a five-inch blade and was disarmed by police. He also had a grinder with cannabis on it, the court heard.

Gillyon, 33, of Priorpot Lane, Norton, pleaded guilty to carrying a knife in public, criminal damage, and possessing cannabis.

Because he had a previous conviction for carrying a weapon he faced a minimum sentence of six months. But the district judge decided he had done what he had because he was mentally ill.

“I think you are a desperate person,” the district judge told him.

“But you must understand it is not all about you. It is about other people as well.

“In any part of a hospital there are going to be people there who are equally deserving of medical care as you are.”

He gave Gillyon a 12-month community order with 30 days’ rehabilitation activities and 150 hours’ unpaid work. Gillyon must also pay £150 compensation.