Hospital detention for verbally abusive Leeds man who assaulted Halton Moor McColls staff member

William Huckerby-Moore accused a staff member at McColls in Halton Moor of spiking bottles of pop and was verbally abusive before twice pushing him, Leeds Crown Court was told.

When the man went to call police, the 25-year-old knocked the phone from his hand.

He returned to his home following the incident on March 12 last year and began shouting out of his window at passersby-by and passing vehicles.

Prosecutor Graham O’Sullivan said police attended the property and were eventually able to calm Huckerby-Moore down.

Mr O’Sullivan told the court that the defendant had 17 previous convictions for 29 offences, including three public order offences.

Huckerby-Moore, of Selby Avenue, Leeds, appeared via video link from Fieldhead Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Wakefield. He had pleaded guilty to common assault and a public order offence at an earlier hearing.

Psychiatric reports carried out since his arrest noted that Huckerby-Moore has a confirmed diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, the court heard.

Martin Morrow, mitigating, said his client now considered himself well enough to be made the subject of a community order, but they were conscious of the recommendations made by a number of doctors who had carried out assessments.

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Making him the subject of a hospital order, Judge Robin Mairs told Huckerby-Moore: “There’s a risk to yourself and to others, especially if you’re not compliant with medication.”

He said the latest report showed good progress and while it was not yet sufficient for a community order to be imposed, the hospital order would be regularly reviewed.