An arsonist who forced the evacuation of an A&E unit after he tried to set fire to one of the bathrooms in the middle of the night has been jailed.

Darren Smith, 47, had to be dragged from the Calderdale Royal Hospital by a nurse after he was discovered lighting bits of toilet paper and putting them in a bin.

He had recently been discharged from the unit in Halifax, West Yorks., when a fire alarm was triggered near a locked men’s bathroom at around 3am.

And a passing nurse only averted a "serious" incident by using a pair of scissors to break through the door and pull him out after spotting the flames.

Smith, who has more than 220 prior offences, also spat in the face of an officer, destroyed a hospital computer and then smashed a police station window.

He admitted three counts of assault on emergency workers, two of criminal damage and one of arson at Leeds Crown Court today.

And he was handed a four-and-a-half-year jail term - with an additional four-year extended licence period.

Judge Tom Bayliss KC said he understood that Smith was frustrated but said starting a fire would have “at least caused serious damage to the hospital”.

He said that he needed to impose an extended jail sentence in order to help address Smith’s underlying issues, acknowledging he was suffering from psychosis and had an emotionally unstable personality disorder.

Prosecutor Jordan Millican said Smith had previously been moved to a mental health wing at HMP Leeds on June 6 last year where he attacked an officer who was delivering food to his cell.

Smith was told to face the back wall as the cell was unlocked, but as the food was put down, he turned around and spat a mouthful of spittle in the officer’s face.

When he was released on October 8 last year, he went on to throw a cup of tea and a sharps bin at a doctor at Bradford Royal Infirmary and smashed a computer monitor.

Smith had been admitted due to self-harm injuries but was later released.

He became agitated when a homeless charity was delayed in reaching him as he waited at the hospital in the early hours.

He was again admitted to Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax five days later, with mental health complaints, where he was assessed and discharged.

But at around 3am, the fire alarm was triggered in the men’s toilet near A&E.

A nurse tried to get into the toilet which was locked, and eventually used a pair of scissors to open the door.

She saw flames and Smith sat on the toilet lighting bits of paper and putting them into the bin.

The A&E unit had to be evacuated and the nurse dragged Smith out of the building.

Finally, on November 14 last year, he smashed a window at a police station in Bradford before threatening to spit at a female officer.

Appearing via video link from HMP Liverpool, the court heard he had 96 convictions for 226 offences, including arson from 2020 when he tried to torch a flat and received a 20-month jail term.

Mitigating for his latest offending, Nicholas Leadbeater said the majority of Smith’s offences were committed because he is homeless.

He said: “His modus operandi has been to go and cause criminal damage at or near a police station so the police can arrest him and put him in the cell for the night and have a roof over his head.”

For the arson, he said it needed to be “put into the context of his mental health at the time”.

But Judge Bayliss said the only course of action that he could take was to give him a jail sentence of 56 months, with an additional four-year extended license.