Man detained in a psychiatric unit after stabbing Leamington victim with a screwdriver

Samuel Ogden (21) of Wheatfield Road, Rugby, appeared at Warwick Crown Court after pleading guilty to a charge of wounding.

And following adjournments for psychiatric reports to be prepared on him, Judge Anthony Potter imposed a hospital order under the Mental Health Act.

Under the order, Ogden, who was living at a hostel in Leamington at the time, will be detained in a secure psychiatric unit until doctors treating him decide he can be discharged.

Prosecutor William Douglas-Jones said in November 2018 Ogden bumped into someone he knew in Leamington town centre and he invited Ogden back to his flat for a smoke and a drink.

Having gone there they drank brandy and ‘the good part of a crate of beer,’ as well as taking cocaine Ogden had taken with him.

Ogden then became loud and aggressive, threatening that he would stab people, and it got to the stage where he was asked to leave.

On his way out, he fell into the hallway, and as his friend tried to help him up, Ogden swung a punch at him before leaving.

Two hours later his friend was woken by banging on his door, and when he opened it he was confronted by Ogden demanding the return of his phone which he claimed to have left there.

He explained that Ogden had taken the phone with him when he left, but that he could come in and look for it if he wanted to.

But once inside, Ogden demanded that his friend look for the phone and punched him before jumping on top of him with his hands round his throat, choking him.

He fought back and got him off, at which Ogden grabbed a small screwdriver from on the sideboard and attacked him again, knocking him down and punching and elbowing him and stabbing him with the screwdriver.

Eventually his victim managed to get away from him, but had suffered three minor stab wounds to his thigh, arm and the palm of his hand.

Mr Douglas-Jones added that Ogden was ‘heavily convicted’ – but had no previous convictions for violence although he did have one for possessing a bladed article in public.

Judge Potter observed that there were two psychiatric reports on Ogden, both of which recommended a hospital order which ‘will reduce the risk he poses to the public.’

He said Ogden’s parents had done their best to support him, and David Everett, defending, said: “They are a respectable family and worked really hard to get some attention for their son, but it just hasn’t succeeded, and he hasn’t got to the place he needed – in-patient treatment.

Sentencing Ogden, Judge Potter told him: “You were living in Leamington in a bail hostel and you met an acquaintance of yours, and he was kind enough to invite you back to his flat.

“You drank and took drugs, and the combination of that and your mental health issues led you to become increasingly aggressive, such that he asked you to leave.

“You returned after two hours and began banging on the door and demanding your phone. When he showed you it was not in the flat, you reacted in an aggressive manner.

“He expresses concern not just for the effect on him, but on you, and you are shocked at hearing what you had done to him. I am quite satisfied you have a mental disorder.”