A mentally ill man who told a terrified dominatrix he was a Jedi Knight sent to kill her has been cleared by a jury on the grounds of insanity.

Steven Pollard, 28, wearing a blanket around his shoulders like a cape and brandishing a 2ft scaffold pole like characters in Star Wars films use a lightsaber, tried to break into Roma Brooks home in Brighton in the early hours of the morning.

Pollard, who has no previous convictions, denied charges of attempted burglary with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm and making a threat to kill at a trial at Lewes Crown Court.

The jury heard that following his arrest Pollard, who has a long history of mental illness, had been a patient at Ashenhill Hospital, a secure unit at Hellingly, near Hailsham, were he was diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and had responded well to treatment in the past five months.

The prosecution supported the defence view that, according to doctors at the hospital, Pollard was mentally ill at the time of the offences in April last year and not responsible for his actions.

The jury was asked to consider a special verdict under the 1883 Trial of Lunatics Act of not guilty by reason of insanity. It unanimously returned the verdict on the second day of a trial.

The hospital wants Pollard, who is working at the Oxfam shop in Hailsham, to be transferred to an open unit at Ashenhill for about a year before returning to live in the community.

Judge Anthony Niblett told the court he intended to impose a two-year supervision and treatment order under the Criminal Procedure (Insanity) Act at a hearing on July 18.

Referring to the ordeal endured by Ms Brooks, the judge said: "She must have suffered very considerable trauma as a result of this dreadful incident."

During the hearing, the jury heard how Pollard, of no fixed address, became obsessed with Ms Brooks, who was working as a professional dominatrix.

When he called at her basement flat in Kemp Town at about 3.30am on April 18, 2002, he told her: "I have come to kill you. I am a man of peace. I am a Jedi. God has told me to revenge the world."

After the case, Ms Brooks said she had been forced to leave Brighton and had given up her work as a dominatrix.

She had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and had received counselling.

She said: "I still feel frightened of him. It will be a long time before I sleep easy."