PERVERT Norman Hutchins could face further questions over whether he attempted to obtain surgical masks while held in a secure mental unit, the Evening Press has learned.

Officers are investigating fresh claims that the unemployed 53-year-old York man tried to persuade medical staff to send him surgical gowns and masks in a series of telephone calls.

At the time of the alleged calls, the fetishist had already been banned from approaching NHS staff, and was undergoing psychiatric tests at the Humber Centre for Forensic Psychiatry in Hull.

As reported in later editions of yesterday's Evening Press, Hutchins was jailed for three years after a judge heard how he plagued medical staff across the country for 20 years for "sexual kicks".

In a legal first, Hutchins also faces an order that could ban him for life from all NHS establishments in England and Wales, to protect workers from his menacing behaviour.

Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday heard that police found a huge quantity of surgical equipment, including masks, gowns and hypodermic needles, at his home in Rowntree Avenue, Clifton.

Prosecutors outlined how Hutchins amassed the haul by pestering staff, claiming that he needed the equipment for sponsored runs in fancy dress or amateur productions.

Judge Paul Hoffman branded Hutchins an "absolute menace", and said that although his ban from NHS establishments will be reviewed after two years, he expected it to continue indefinitely.

Speaking after the case, PC Richard Gatecliffe, who led the police investigation, said Hutchins was a "cunning, devious and manipulative man".

He refused to comment on the new investigation, but said a previous injunction made in 2002, which forbade Hutchins from visiting or telephoning certain health centres, led to an escalation in his activities.

He welcomed the ban made as part of a Criminal Antisocial Behaviour Order (CRASBO).

Hutchins could now face a further prison sentence if caught breaching the ban.

PC Gatecliffe said: "He has used violence, threats and intimidation against many health care professionals, particularly women."

Hutchins admitted a public order offence, five charges of deception, one of attempted deception and one of carrying a dinner knife in public.

Mike Proctor, director of nursing at York Hospital, said news of Hutchins' imprisonment "will be welcomed by our staff at the sharp end with some relief".

Chief Superintendent Tim Madgwick, area police commander for York, said: "Hutchins's fixation with hospitals and hospital procedures has posed a serious threat to the safety of hospital patients here in York and elsewhere.

"His persistence and tenacity has continued, despite several convictions, and he has caused distress and alarm to hospital staff and medical practitioners alike."

Jane Mowat, of Safer York Partnership, said partnership work between the police, the NHS and York Council had put a "dangerous and disturbed man" out of harm's way.

Updated: 10:04 Friday, January 21, 2005