A drug addict who threatened hospital staff with Wolverine-style CLAWS made out of syringes has been jailed.

Aaron Bakewell, 31, taped the ten needles to each of his fingers before bursting into the A&E department and demanding staff hand over drugs.

Police were called and he was pepper-sprayed by officers after he told them the syringes were dirty and he had hepatitis C.

Bakewell admitted possessing bladed articles in a public place at Leicester Crown Court on Monday.

Jailing him for two years and three months, Judge Robert Brown said: "To use syringe needles as a weapon to threaten hospital staff and obtain drugs is a serious matter.

"Hospital staff are in a vulnerable position and they need to be protected from violent outbursts from visitors like you.

"You presented a real danger and intended to frighten them by what you did.

"You may have been in the grip of a heroin addiction at the time but only custody can follow for an offence like this, both to punish you and protect potential victims."

The court heard Bakewell, of Leicester, burst into the city's Royal Infirmary on August 20 last year.

Prosecutor Kate Plummer said: "Syringes were taped to his hands when he attended the accident and emergency department in something of a state, on August 20 last year.

"There were five syringes taped to the fingers on each hand.

"He began demanding drugs.

"Officers attending the hospital for a different reason noticed he looked angry as he was shouting that he wanted Methadone and heroin.

"He told the police the syringes were dirty.

"Officers told him to calm down but they were ignored.

"More officers had to be called.

"He tried to walk away but they surrounded him and were forced to use an incapacitant spray to take him to the ground.

"He spat at them and said he had 'needles all over' and more were recovered from his trouser pockets.

"He said he'd got them from a used bin of medical waste."

The court heard that in his basis of plea he stated: "I accept I went to hospital with syringes taped to my hands.

"It may have caused alarm.

"My intention was to obtain Methadone or heroin."

Bakewell also admitted stealing a computer tablet from his mother's home on April 4 this year and theft of a plastic bag containing unspecified items from a parked car on June 3.

He also admitted a bail offence, by failing to attend court for sentence last month, resulting in his arrest on a warrant.

Nathan Palmer, defending, said: "He had a chaotic lifestyle and the offences are, in part, explained by his drug use which has had harmful effects not only upon him, but his family and society in general.

"He knows he's facing immediate custody today and that he'll have to make the best he can of the drug rehabilitation facilities in prison.

"He blames no-one but himself."