A paranoid schizophrenic who attacked two mental health workers with a hammer was today ordered to remain in hospital indefinitely.

Oxford Crown Court heard Wayne Knight was a patient at the Littlemore Hospital in Oxford when he chased two nurses with a rubber mallet, before escaping.

In a written statement read to the court, nursing assistant Helena Borkowski said when she started her shift on the day of the attack last December she was told Knight had been angry because he had no cigarettes.

She said: "He looked at me and said something like 'Where are my drugs?'

"Suddenly he rushed towards me. I was backed into a corner, I had nowhere to escape. He looked wild.

"I remember being hit a couple of times to the back of my head.

"I remember thinking he was never going to stop and I was going to be dead in seconds."

The court heard Ms Borkowski suffered a 2in cut on her head which needed four stitches.

In another written statement, nurse Zenaida Woodward said Knight, 40, chased her around the room before hitting her on the head with a hammer.

She said: "I was very scared and shocked, I had never seen anything like this happen before."

Amjad Malik, prosecuting, said police arrested Knight after seeing him walking through Littlemore on the same day he escaped. He still had the hammer in his hand.

Knight was found unfit to plead to wounding with intent and causing actual bodily harm but the jury decided he had carried out the attacks.

Mr Recorder Harold Persaud gave Knight an indefinite hospital order.