A KNIFEMAN on crack cocaine who pursued his victim in the street and repeatedly stabbed him has been detained in a secure hospital.

Thomas Hutchinson would have been jailed for five years if his mental health had not significantly deteriorated since committing the crime, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Hutchinson, 27, of Heybeck Walk, Holme Wood, Bradford, was sentenced on a video link to Newton Lodge Hospital where he is detained under the Mental Health Act with a Schizoaffective Disorder.

He pleaded guilty at earlier hearing to unlawfully and maliciously wounding the man with intent to do him grievous bodily harm.

He also admitted common assault on a barmaid at a Bradford pub on February 16, 2020. Prosecutor Clare Walsh said he was barred from the pub for non-payment of a coffee. When the staff member asked him to leave, he spat in her hair.

The court heard that the knife attack happened in Ovington Drive, Holme Wood, on October 27, 2020.

Hutchinson and the man had been using crack cocaine when they had an argument in the street. The victim walked away but heard footsteps behind him and turned to see the defendant holding a knife above his head.

He put his right arm up to protect himself and was stabbed three times, once in the hand and twice in the upper arm.

He had surgery to repair divided muscles and nerves and it was predicted that the arm would not be in full use for a year.

Mrs Walsh told the court she did not have an updated statement from the man about how the injuries had progressed.

Hutchinson had 26 previous convictions for 38 offences, including seven assaults. One of them was a Section 20 grievous bodily harm for which he received a 12-month jail sentence.

He also had a conviction for possession of a bladed article and he was in breach of a community order for burglary.

His barrister, Rebecca Young, said his mental health deteriorated when he was remanded in prison for the Section 18 wounding.

A doctor called to give evidence before the court said his mental disorder did not play any significant part in the stabbing.

Judge Colin Burn said Hutchinson would have been jailed for four years and nine months for grievous bodily harm and three months for common assault, the sentences to run consecutively.

Instead, he made an order under the Mental Health Act to allow him to continue to receive hospital treatment. If he becomes well enough, he could be returned to prison.

Judge Burn said Hutchinson posed a public danger without treatment and would not be let out of the hospital until the doctors deemed it safe.