Man behind maternity unit scare is locked up for knife offence

31-YEAR-OLD FOUND LYING IN STREET CARRYING 10CM BLADE

Reporter A MENACE who walked free from court after covering himself in lighter fluid and threatening to set himself alight outside a maternity unit has now been jailed.

David Kirsop was given a suspended sentence when he caused the evacuation of mothers and babies at South Tyneside District Hospital because of the terrifying stand-off.

But the 31-year-old has now been locked up after he was found lying in the road with a knife pointing out of his pocket.

A court heard that patients and their babies at the maternity unit had to be transferred to other hospitals because Kirsop was standing outside covered in flammable liquid, which he repeatedly threatened to ignite.

At Newcastle Crown Court last December, Kirsop, of Pickering Court, Jarrow, who has a long list of past convictions, was given a three-month jail term, which was suspended after a judge accepted his remorse.

Kirsop told the court at the time: “In the time I have had to reflect, there has not been one day gone by that I haven’t thought about the people in that maternity ward.

“I have got a lot of guilt and shame for that. I would like to apologise to them.”

But now, Kirsop has now been jailed for a total of 13 months at the same court after being found lying on Bede Burn Road in Jarrow with a large knife sticking out from his pocket.

Neil Pallister, prosecuting, told the David Kirsop had his suspended sentence activated by a judge court police received a report of a male lying in the road on August 2.

He said: “The defendant was lying on the floor with a 10cm bladed, blackhandled knife visibly hanging from his right trouser pocket.

“The defendant was spoken to and was reluctant to stand or do anything.”

The prosecutor said Kirsop had to be restrained before he was arrested and later confessed he had been drinking lager all day and had taken two ecstasy tablets.

He had a blue pill, believed to be another ecstasy tablet, in his pocket.

Kirsop admitted having a bladed article.

Recorder John Aitken told Kirsop he had been “given a chance” in the past but said the three-month suspended sentence, plus a separate five-month suspended term Kirsop was subject to for having another knife, must be activated.

The judge imposed a further fivemonth jail term for Kirsop carrying the knife in Jarrow, making a total jail term of 13 months.

Graeme Cook, defending, said Kirsop only ever intends or threatens to hurt himself, not other people, and has been diagnosed with a personality disorder making him emotionally unstable.