A PATIENT has been jailed for threatening to kill nurses at a mental hospital.

Nafisa Abdulle also told staff at The Dene in Goddards Green, near Hassocks, she would slash their tyres.

The 29-year-old, of no fixed abode, is serving an 11-month prison sentence after the incidents on June 9 at the secure hospital for women with mental illness in Gatehouse Lane.

Abdulle  was charged on June 20 and remanded in custody, initially denying the allegations of making repeated threats to kill and destroy property.

The court heard nurses were in genuine fear the threats would be acted upon.

After pleading guilty at Brighton Magistrates’ Court, she was handed a six-and-a-half-month sentence for the first charge and a concurrent two-month term for the second. 

Magistrates ordered her to serve extra time because she breached the terms of two suspended sentences by committing the crimes.

She was given a seven-week suspended sentence for assault by beating in London in November and another of 15 weeks for arson in Bronsfield prison.

She was ordered to pay £115 to fund victim’s services.

The Priory Group, which runs the hospital, refused to comment.