A MAN caused a 10-hour stoppage on roads leading to the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch by climbing a 30ft high footbridge and threatening to jump.

Dean Tambling, aged 25, was eventually talked down by police but not before he had delayed ambulances and parents collecting children from a nearby school, said Rupert Jones, prosecuting at Worcester Crown Court.

Tambling, of School Road, Yardley Wood, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to theft, having an offensive weapon and a separate charge of having a bladed article, a kitchen knife, in a public place.

He was given a 12-month jail sentence suspended for two years and ordered to be under supervision for 12 months when he undertakes alcohol and drug use courses. Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC also banned him from visiting pubs, clubs and licensed restaurants for 12 months.

Mr Jones said Tambling had gone into a garage in Washwood Heath on March 3 and grabbed £23.64 worth of chocolates from the counter. He told the staff that he did not intend to hurt anyone and left behind his driving licence.

Police went to his address and arrested him and he was released on bail. But five days later, Tambling was seen making a disturbance in Redditch town centre after he had been drinking. He had a large kitchen knife in his trousers.

Siobhan Collins, mitigating, suggested that the public interest would be better served in trying to rehabilitate Tambling rather than punish him. He had already spent a fortnight in custody on remand.