Man spat at nurse and said 'I hope you get Covid, I hope you die'

The nurse described Adam Makin's actions as “frightening beyond words,” York Crown Court heard.

Makin, 24, spat at the nurse three or four times, saying he hoped the hospital worker caught Covid, said James Howard, prosecuting.

Reading the nurse’s personal statement, the barrister said: “He is fearful and he now always has the thought in his mind. When he is looking after other patients, he is worried something similar may happen.”

The nurse had cared for coronavirus patients and worked on the front line during the pandemic. “For someone to say to him, ‘I hope you get Covid, I hope you die’, he (the nurse) says ‘It is frightening beyond words’,” said Mr Howard.

Police had taken Makin to hospital for him to be assessed psychiatrically. He had made threats against other hospital staff and squared up to the nurse he spat at on February 4.

Makin, of Mayfield Grove, Harrogate, pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker and breaching a harassment order protecting a former friend of his. He was jailed for 13 months.

Recorder Darren Preston told him: “This was a particularly unpleasant and nasty assault in the current climate as no doubt it was intended to be.”

For him, Ismael Uddin said Makin had mental health issues and had not taken his medication.

In the hospital he had felt he was entitled to medication to stop him hearing voices but staff had not given it to him.

Makin wanted to go to prison as he saw it as the only way to receive the correct medication and stabilise his lifestyle.