A JUDGE has warned of the risks faced by frontline medical staff after a nurse was knifed by a man who suffers from mental health issues.

Nicky Scopes stabbed Sister Karen Royles twice in the arm with a kitchen knife at Victoria Hospital in Wimborne on December 9 last year after seeking treatment for an injury to his wrist.

Scopes, 41 and formerly of East Borough in Wimborne, has now been sentenced to an indefinite hospital order after admitting grievous bodily harm without intent and possessing a knife in a public place.

Prosecuting the case at Bournemouth Crown Court, Rob Griffiths said the defendant told a receptionist at the hospital that he was suicidal and wanted to kill himself.

As a result, Ms Royles decided to treat his case as a priority and he was taken into the treatment room.

Scopes looked “pale, sweaty and unwell” and Ms Royles checked his blood pressure.

As she put the machine away, she became aware that Scopes was standing close behind her and turned.

“[He was] one to two feet away with his right arm making a movement towards her,” Mr Griffiths said.

“She felt a pain in her left arm.

“The defendant raised his arm again and [the victim realised] he was holding a knife.”

When Ms Royles fled, Scopes called 999 and told operators he’d stabbed someone because he wanted to get help for his mental health problems, Mr Griffiths told the court.

Ms Royles. who has worked as a nurse for around 20 years, did not sustain life-threatening or life-changing injuries.

The defendant has no previous convictions.

However, in 2014 he attempted to strangle another nurse, it was heard.

Robert Grey, mitigating, said: “The defendant made a 999 call, during which he admitted what he had done.

“He told police he had injured a nurse. He wishes to offer his profound apologies to the victim.”

Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Doreen Attard said the defendant is currently being treated at a specialist facility in Surrey for paranoid schizophrenia complicated by a “significant obsessive compulsive component”.

“He has made tremendous progress but it is still early days,” the doctor said.

“He is scared that if he is released too soon, he would find himself in the same desperate situation he was in.”

Judge Peter Johnson said Scopes has been suffering with mental health problems for a number of years.

The defendant reported periods of “intense anger” in September last year, during which time he thought about harming his neighbours.

“The attack has clearly had a lasting effect upon [Ms Royles].

“I praise her courage and selfless public-spirited duty in carrying out the service that she does,” the judge said.

Judge Johnson said the case had exposed the “risks that those working on the frontline in providing medical services for society face”.

“They often deal with patients in a one-to-one situation without any security - for obvious reasons - and the public owes them a great debt,” he added.

The judge sentenced Scopes to a hospital order under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act.

A Section 41 order - which means the defendant can only be released with the approval of the Secretary of State - was also put in place to protect the public from harm.