A MENTAL health patient who threw a cup of boiling tea at a nurse has been spared jail, but ordered to pay £1,500, a court heard last week.

Karen Morgan, aged 32, a residential patient at Cygnet hospital unit, in Beach Road in Kewstoke, threw a cup of scalding tea at a support worker following an altercation at the care unit.

Morgan admitted attacking mental health support worker Karliese Erasmus in an incident which left the victim needing medical treatment for severe burns to her neck.

Giles Nelson, mitigating, had earlier argued Morgan should receive a conditional discharge for the offence.

He said in September that Morgan was remorseful for her actions and suggested she deserved credit from the court for entering a guilty plea early in the legal proceedings.

He said at the previous hearing: “This event will have an impact on how she [Morgan] is looked after and how her file is recorded.

“I agree with the fact that the prosecution has been maintained and it is important that the defendant has pleaded guilty to that.”

Judge Julian Lambert had opted to adjourn the case back in September to allow a psychiatric report to be carried out, during which time Morgan remained in care at Cygnet.

She is already subject to a hospital order due to the nature of her mental health condition.

This week, at the conclusion of that medical assessment, the case was passed to Judge Martin Picton, who decided against imposing any custodial penalty, but ordered Morgan to pay £1,500 in compensation to Ms Erasmus.

Morgan was convicted of a single offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm during the Bristol Crown Court hearing on Friday.

The Cygnet hospital unit provides a secure environment, rehabilitation and recovery path for women who have suffered with mental health problems, as well as emergency mental health services for men. It currently has two male and two female wards