A mentally ill man caused £20,000 damage after running amok with a sledgehammer.

The patient chased workers on the Hithercroft industrial estate at Wallingford with the 14lb hammer, shouting 'I'm going to knock your head off', and attacked businesses and vehicles.

The man's care worker was escorting him to the Hithercroft Workshop, used by people with learning difficulties, when the incident happened yesterday lunchtime.

Eye-witnesses said the man went inside the nearby G and T Services' building and took the hammer, before coming out and threatening people. He then chased Alan Cripps, the co-owner of A and B Upholstery, which is based next to the workshop.

Two cars and two vans were dented and had their windows and windscreens smashed, while windows of offices near the workshop in Whitely Road were also wrecked.

Police officers rushed to the scene with shields, which were not used. Mr Cripps, 36, whose van was damaged, said: "He was shouting at me. I tried to calm him down but the next thing I knew was that he was chasing after me.

"I turned and ran, but he went for the van. He was looking round for other things to hit."

He added: "Everyone says something like this has been waiting to happen." An employee of the company, who did not wished to be named, was distraught after the K-registration Volvo she bought a month ago was damaged. "I ran back inside and just watched him demolish my car," she said. "I've got two small children and now I'm incapacitated until I get another car."

Terry Driscoll, managing director of Dricom Ltd, said: "People were trying to subdue him. He was running after them with a hammer and they were screaming.

"Something happens there once a fortnight. Sometimes it's just a laugh and joking, but now and again it gets serious."

Colleague Howard Williams added: "He was shouting 'I'm going to knock your head off' at one man."

A van owned by Mick Allaway, 37, who owns Allaway Autos opposite the centre, was damaged along with a Ford Granada he was repairing.

"The patients there generally wander around, and I don't see the harm in that, but if someone is this bad, he should be supervised far better," said Mr Allaway.

"They should not be around here if they are prone to violence."

Jean Carr, director for adult service provision at Oxfordshire social services, which looks after the workshop, said: "Our staff acted promptly to ensure the safety of users of the workshop and people in the immediate neighbourhood.

"The person concerned had a one-to-one care worker with him who was bringing him to the centre, but the incident happened before he got there."

She added that the patient was properly supervised. "People who use the workshop are not dangerous," she said. "This was a one-off incident."

"Small incidents concerning the centre are dealt with as they arrive. We have a good relationship with other users of the industrial estate and we have never had any complaints from them."

A man in his early 20s was arrested and questioned by police. after the incident. and was being questioned at Didcot police station.

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