A TERRIFIED nurse had to barricade herself into an office as a patient tried to force their way in while making harrowing threats.

Molly Asik told the nurse “I’m going to kill you” just moments after she slid a threatening letter under the staff office door at The Lakes Mental Health Hospital, Colchester.

The letter addressed to the nurse detailed how Asik, 23, wanted to “slice you up, you’ll have no breath left”, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.

The victim, who had been working with Asik on a one-to-one basis, was then forced to use her bodyweight to keep the door closed but, as she started to lose the battle, had to grab a chair and a bin.

Asik, of Elizabeth Close, Colchester, admitted sending a letter conveying a threatening message and was sentenced to eight months imprisonment on Wednesday.

Rebecca Thomas, prosecuting, told how on February 2, Asik posted a letter under an office door at the hospital addressed to her nurse.

The court heard the letter from Asik, who has eight previous convictions for 12 offences, read: “You’re going to die today, no matter what I’m going to get a knife and slice you up.

“You’ll have no breath left, your body is going to die and I will make sure of it.”

Ms Thomas explained the nurse then had to barricade herself into the office while Asik attempted to get in, eventually pressing the panic alarm which then saw the assailant restrained by staff.

She added: “The nurse could see Miss Asik through the glass where she was making gestures suggesting she was going to slit her throat”.

Judge Timothy Walker stated Asik’s behaviour was “entirely unacceptable” but imposed a sentence which allowed her to leave Chelmsford Prison and take up a space at a supported living accommodation to serve the remainder of her punishment.

He said: “You cannot behave to anybody else, whether it’s somebody in the hospital or in the street, in the way you have done.

“You need to understand this is the last chance for you. I impose this sentence with the full intention there is a bed available for you and you will be taken there by the police.”