A MAN who leapt out in front of an ambulance carrying a dying patient and smashed the window has been sentenced to a community order with a Mental Health Treatment Requirement.

Joseph Coultous attacked the vehicle ferrying an end of life patient home causing £800 damage, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Coultous, 29, had first “kicked off” in his flat at the hostel where he was living on Otley Road in Bradford, prosecutor Howard Shaw said.

He was reported to be “distressed and aggressive” at 6pm on April 17 last year before leaving the hostel, triggering concerns for his welfare.

Coultous then went into the road and broke the ambulance window.

He was arrested and made no comment when the police questioned him. He pleaded guilty to criminal damage to the ambulance and being in breach of a suspended sentence order for attempting to burgle a house. Mr Shaw said that offence took place on August 18, 2019, when a woman returned home to find her gates open, her burglar alarm flashing and an attempt to break-in through the back door at the address.

Coultous, who had left his blood at the scene, was sentenced to a 12-month suspended sentence order in August, 2020. His compliance with it was inconsistent, the court was told. There were nine unacceptable absences for supervision appointments and he had become what was described as “unmanageable.”

His mental health deteriorated and he was Sectioned under the Mental Health Act and detained in Bradford’s Lynfield Mount Hospital.

Coultous had 19 previous convictions for 32 offences, including three for criminal damage, seven burglaries and four attempted burglaries.

Now back at the hostel, he attended court with his support worker.

Mr Shaw said it was conceded that Coultous had learning difficulties and mental health issues.

His barrister, Charlotte Noddings, said he had consented to the Mental Health Treatment Requirement, which he was legally obliged to do before it was made.

He was under the care of a psychiatrist and doing his best to rehabilitate himself with a view to leading a more normal life.

Work was being done on his substance misuse, the court was told.

Recorder Joanne Kidd sentenced Coultous to a three-year community order with the treatment requirement. She said he had only recently left hospital and continued to need help. But it was “totally unacceptable” to smash the ambulance window and he needed to stop using drugs.

He was fined £100 for breaching the suspended sentence order.