A DRUG user who repeatedly carries weapons in public has been detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act for knife offences.

Ben Mawhood, 33, took amphetamine shortly before he pulled out a knife in York Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department on November 5 and asked paramedics “What do I do with this?”, said Anthony Moore, prosecuting.

He smashed a window and police had to use incapacitating spray, York Crown Court heard.

Released under investigation by police, Mawhood drank whisky and vodka and took amphetamine on November 23.

Then he waved a knife outside his house while complaining about his neighbour’s dog. The same afternoon, he had a knife in his hand as he approached two teenage girls in the street outside his house.

Defence barrister Eddison Flint said Mawhood had a series of psychiatric problems.

At the hospital he had been suffering from hallucinations and had only been trying to hand the knife to staff.

Judge Simon Hickey said Mawhood had a “concerning” criminal history including using an imitation firearm to frighten others and two offences of carrying knives.

He read psychiatric reports saying Mawhood had a depressive illness with psychotic symptoms and an obsessive compulsive disorder, among other conditions.

He made an order detaining him under the Mental Health Act and told Mawhood it was “to protect the public and indeed you and to ensure you get the treatment you need".

Mawhood, formerly of Queen Victoria Street, South Bank, York, pleaded guilty to two charges of affray, two of having a knife in public and one of possessing a small amount of cannabis found on him after the hospital incident.

York Crown Court heard in 2010 that Mawhood’s previous weapons offences occurred when he had been binge drinking and taking illegal drugs. On that occasion, two psychiatrists decided he did not require sectioning under the Mental Health Act.