A MAN who stabbed a hospital worker was found not guilty of attempted murder because of his rapidly declining mental state.

Connolly Mellon had claimed he was ordered to kill George Joseph by the special forces unit the SAS via telepathy.

He went into the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton in a bid to reach the helipad.

Then he stabbed Mr Joseph, a hospital kitchen worker, 56, who had asked to see identification.

At Lewes Crown Court, jurors heard how Mr Mellon, 30, had become psychotic in the weeks before the shocking incident.

He claimed the attack on Mr Joseph had been ordered by the SAS as part of a selection process.

His father Francis Mellon wanted his son to get urgent mental health treatment but was told there were no beds for him.

After a two-day trial, the jury cleared Mr Mellon junior of attempted murder and possession of a knife on the grounds that he was insane at the time of the attack.

Mr Mellon was sectioned under the Mental Health Act to get treatment after being found not guilty.

The incident sparked an armed police response team rushing to the hospital in Eastern Road.

Every room was checked and cleared for danger during an emergency lockdown.

Francis Mellon told the court that on the morning of the stabbing on July 19 last year his son had grabbed him by the throat and branded him as the devil.

“I was frightened for him, he had become so erratic over that weekend, he moved from being reasonably to unpredictable,” Mr Mellon said. “He thought I was trying to kill him, he was trying to strangle me and called me the devil.”

Mr Mellon described how his son was rescued from the sea by Brighton Lifeguards, and explained how the first coronavirus lockdown really affected his son.

“The behaviour became much more sinister,” Mr Mellon said. “He had gone from wanting to save the world and protect the world, to people wanting to kill him.”

A mental health rapid response team diagnosed Mellon with early onset psychosis just 11 days before the incident at the hospital, his father revealed.

Incidents also included officers at Brighton Police Station calling Mr Mellon (senior) over concerns about his son. Connolly was “agitated” and claimed the “end of the world was coming” and that he would be “sacrificed”.

Police told Mr Mellon his son looked “extremely unwell” and “exhausted”.

Connolly Mellon had claimed that he would die and rise again, and wanted his father to go to the mortuary to keep a vigil over his coffin.

On another occasion Mellon claimed he was being chased by secret agents.

He also wrote a book claiming he had invented technologies to save the world, including with a new spaceship.

Connolly Mellon, formerly of Waterloo Street, Hove, will now receive treatment under the Mental Health Act.