A homeless man given shelter during the pandemic stabbed a man in the chest after earlier threatening to "mutilate" him.

Phillip Hodgkinson was living in a module at the Kingsway Pavilion in North Lynn when he carried out the attack on another resident, on July 7, last year.

John Morgans, prosecuting at Norwich Crown Court, said that the victim knew the defendant before the attack but had noticed that his mental health appeared to be suffering.

Mr Morgans said out of concern the victim asked Hodgkinson how he was but Hodgkinson replied: "The future is not good for you."

When they met again, Hodgkinson issued threats saying he would "mutilate" him and then later he came out of his module accommodation armed with a large knife.

Mr Morgans said: "He stabbed the victim to the left side of his chest using that knife."

Mr Morgans said the victim, who suffered a single stab wound, was taken to hospital and treated for his injury. No victim impact statement was read out in court.

Philip Hodgkinson, 35, of no fixed address, was charged with grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of a knife but after his arrest, concerns were raised over his mental health.

Reports were ordered which showed he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.

Hodgkinson appeared over a video link for sentencing from Northside House, in Norwich, a secure mental health clinic.

William Carter, defending, said Hodgkinson had been assessed by consultant psychiatrists, who concluded that he needed to be made subject to a hospital order.

Recorder John Brooke-Smith told Hodgkinson: "These are serious offences and the victim suffered severe injuries."

However he said it was clear that Hodgkinson was suffering from a mental disorder and so he made a hospital order, with no time limit.

The court heard there was a hospital place available for Hodgkinson.

Lynn Borough Council provided the modules at Kingsway Pavilion in North Lynn to give homeless people a safe, warm place to eat and sleep as part of a strategy to combat rough sleeping, in part caused by the covid crisis.