A mentally ill man who brandished a hammer at terrified neighbours has been detained in a hospital under the Mental Health Act by a court.
Iftikhar Shah, faced sentence for affray and possession of an offensive weapon nearly two years after an incident in Chorley.
The 36-year-old had pleaded guilty to both charges, but there have been 13 court hearings about the case since the incident happened two years ago.
On March 30, 2011, the defendant was seen walking down Kilkerran Close, Chorley, where he lived.
He was spotted waving a hammer in the air.
It is understood he made out to passers by he was going to hit himself on the head with the tool.
Concerned neighbours and residents on the street were watching the incident.
Shah shouted at people looking at him that he was going to “kill them”.
Shah, formerly of Kilkerran Close, Chorley, suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
Judge Simon Newell, sitting at Preston Crown Court, heard about his progress from his doctors at a hospital in Mold, North Wales.
The court heard his illness had often manifested itself in “quite dangerous anti social behaviour” but that he was responding to medication and treatment.
A psychiatrist said his treatment would involve being allowed to walk unescorted around the hospital grounds and eventually he would be allowed unescorted visits out.
The judge said: “You have been in hospital for some time now.
“I’m told you are making good progress in hospital.
The prospects for the future are that you may, with assistance, make more progress and get a lot better.
He added: “I’m going to make an order that returns you to the hospital and you have to agree with the directions of the doctors.
“At the end of the day it may be that you can be returned to your family and home but for the present you can’t.”
He made a section 37 order under the Act and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the hammer.