A MAN broke the nose of a nurse while detained at a mental health hospital in Gwent because he was angry at being unable to take an incoming telephone call, a court was told.

David Summers, aged 42, punched the door of the office the nurse was in at Llanarth Court Hospital after the latter told him he was unable to put through the call - from the defendant's father - because someone else was already using the line.

He then punched the nurse in the face and arms, and after the nurse left the room, Summers locked himself in.

Prosecutor Andrew Jones told Newport Crown Court that prior to the attack on the nurse, on January 19 this year, Summers, from the Swansea area, had been admitted to a medium secure ward at the hospital under the Mental Health Act, suffering "various personality disorders."

"When a phone call is received for a patient there is a phone box outside the ward to allow patients a degree of privacy," said Mr Jones.

He added that when told the line was busy, Summers became angry and abusive, the unprovoked attack happening shortly afterwards, witnessed by another member of staff.

Interviewed by police, Summers said he had been agitated and upset, and had hit the nurse in order to get his attention.

Judge Tom Crowther QC told Summers, who pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, that he was taking into account the fact that he had "more or less immediately apologised" for the attack.

He served Summers with a hospital order, with restriction.