A psychiatric patient robbed two Oxford building societies before assaulting his nurse with a piece of wood, writes Andrew Ffrench.

Oxford Crown Court heard yesterday that paranoid schizophrenic Roland Barrett, 38, threatened to shoot two women cashiers last October, at a time when he was receiving treatment for his mental problems as a care in the community patient.

Shortly afterwards, he cornered his nurse Jonathan Maguire and hit him on the head with a piece of wood.

Barrett, now an in-patient at the Fair Mile Hospital, Wallingford, pleaded guilty to robbery, attempted robbery, assault causing actual bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon.

He asked if he could be sent to prison but the judge refused and ordered that he should be detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act. After the hearing, a forensic psychiatrist said the case demonstrated weaknesses in the care in the community system.

Alan Blake, prosecuting, told the court Barrett went into the Woolwich Building Society in Cornmarket Street, Oxford, on October 28 and told a female 16-year-old cashier he had a gun.

Mr Blake said: "He wrote on a piece of paper 'I have a gun in my pocket'. He walked out with £20 in coins and told her 'I will be waiting for you outside.'"

Two days later, Barrett struck again at the National Westminster Bank in Cowley Road, and once again demanded money after telling a female cashier he had a gun.

She also raised the alarm and Barrett fled empty-handed. Judge Harold Wilson commended both women for their bravery and ordered they should each receive a £250 award. The court was told that Barrett confessed the robberies to his psychiatric nurse during a visit to Littlemore Hospital in Oxford.

Mr Blake added that following the visit, Barrett attacked his nurse in the car park with a piece of wood, leaving his victim suffering swelling to the side of his face and headaches.

"Mr Maguire heard a swishing noise and was hit on the head. The defendant shouted 'I have always hated you' and then ran off."

Consultant forensic psychiatrist Henrietta Bullard told the court Barrett was mentally ill, not suffering a personality disorder and was being treated as an out-patient by psychiatrists at the time of the offences. She said he received a prison sentence at Bullingdon last year for assaulting his mother and was already beginning to experience mental problems when he was freed last July.

She added that the case demonstrated weaknesses in the care in the community system and said: "The psychiatric nurse was generally unsupported and was not assisted by a doctor in terms of making a diagnosis."

Story date: Saturday 10 April

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