Knifeman’s threat to stab hospital guard

31-YEAR-OLD COULD AVOID JAIL TO GET MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT

A DISTURBED man armed with a kitchen knife threatened to stab a hospital security guard and rape his children, a court heard.

Lee Steenson, 31, who claimed to be a member of Salford’s notorious A Team criminal gang, left a trio of security guards in shock after his outburst.

They managed to detain and remove his kitchen knife before police arrested him.

A judge told Steenson he may be spared jail so he can be treated for his mental health problems.

Prosecutor Juliet Berry told Manchester Crown Court that a security guard at Salford Royal Hospital went to investigate after reports of a man acting strangely near the pathology lab at 1.30am on October 2.

Steenson told the security guard he was OK but spoke in an ‘aggressive’ manner, the court heard.

At first the defendant said he was a patient but then said he was waiting for a friend who was in A&E.

But Steenson was unable to provide any information about his ‘friend’ and when he got up from his bench the security guard noticed he had an empty bottle of wine, Ms Berry told the court.

Steenson was asked to leave the hospital but he refused and threatened to stab the security guard, telling him: “I will stab you to death.”

The defendant then reached for his waistband and the security guard feared he had a knife although no weapon was produced at that stage, the court heard.

Steenson boasted he was a member of ‘the A gang,’ again threatened to stab the security guard and also threatened to kidnap him and rape him and his children, said the prosecutor. The security guard told Steenson

Grab from his Facebook page of Lee Steenson, who was convicted of possessing a knife and a public order offence after threatening security guards at Salford Royal Hospital with a knife

to ‘relax’ but the defendant ran towards him.

The guard and a colleague, both men, disarmed Steenson of a kitchen knife and detained him.

A third security guard, a woman, arrived on the scene and saw the defendant had a knife in the waistband of his trousers and police were called to arrest him.

When he was interviewed, Steenson told officers he had discharged himself from North Manchester General Hospital a few days earlier and that he had not been given ‘fresh medication.’

He said he heard voices in his head and insisted he had the knife to harm himself, the court was told. One of the security guards told police she found Steenson’s comments about children ‘disturbing’ while a second security guard told officers: “I do not expect to come to work and to have threats made towards me and my family.

“I also don’t expect threats to my life.

“I was disgusted with his behaviour. “I hope noone else has to face this type of behaviour.”

The court heard Steenson has 21 convictions for 48 crimes including violence, burglary and drugs.

At the time he was threatening security guards in the hospital he

Salford Royal Hospital security guard was was serving a community order for harassing a former partner and breaching a restraining order.

Stuart Duke, defending, admitted his client’s position was ‘precarious’ but he pointed out Steenson had been under the influence of alcohol at the time but had not ‘brandished’ the knife.

His client, he said, had a long history of mental ill health and had been diagnosed with emotional instability personality disorder, which leads to a ‘heightened sense of threat.’

Judge, Mr Justice William Davis, agreed to adjourn sentencing until November 15 while work is done to establish what treatment the defendant could receive in the community if he was spared jail.

Steenson, of Greenbrow Road in Wythenshawe, pleaded guilty to possessing a knife and a public order offence.