A MENTALLY ill man made a chilling petrol bomb phone threat as a “cry for help” after being evicted from a Carlisle hostel.

Matthew Adam Neale came before the city’s crown court on Thursday just months after being spared prison for an almost identical offence.

Neale, 44, had received a suspended jail term after dialling 999 and pledging to hurl a Molotov cocktail through Cumbria Partnership Trust’s former Portland Square base. He’d also vowed to mail a box of chocolates containing a bomb to Cumbria police‘s headquarters.

In July, Neale was then jailed for criminal damage, resisting police and harassment crimes.

And while on licence after his release he caused more trouble on October 26.

Neale was evicted from his hostel after an incident the previous day, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

After contacting a community mental health team receptionist to request help, he then phoned a crisis team staff member. He vowed to visit the city’s Carleton Clinic and made threats to kill himself. “I’m really unwell,” he’d stated. “I’ve got a knife and I’ll petrol bomb the headquarters if you don’t do something. I’m at my wits’ end.

His victim was left feeling “a great degree of distress”.

Police arrested Neale, who was compliant throughout. He admitted sending an electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety.

Judge Peter Davies read detailed reports outlining Neale’s mental health issues and troubles since suffering a brain injury.

“He panicked,” said his barrister, Kim Whittlestone. “He felt that his mental health was deteriorating and this was a cry for help. He is remorseful for his offence. He says he feels this is just a blip on his road to recovery.”

Passing sentence, Judge Peter Davies said: “You didn’t cause anybody any physical harm and you didn’t spill any blood but you scared and frightened people in public service and that is of extreme concern to me.”

A sympathetic Judge Davies imposed an eight-month jail, saying he wanted to make the sentence “as short as I possibly can”. But he stated: “Woe betide you if you and I meet again because this is the end. I’m not having this again.”