A MENTALLY ill Suffolk woman was restrained after walking into Woodbridge police station and threatening to burn it down, a court has heard.

Caroline Henbury, who was carrying a box of matches splashed petrol around and told officers that she was going to set the petrol alight, Ipswich Crown Court was told.

Henbury, 36, of St Andrew’s Place, Melton admitted attempted arson with intent to endanger life at Woodbridge Police Station on September 19 last year and asked for an offence of sending a threatening letter to the police to be taken into consideration.

After hearing evidence from consultant forensic psychiatrist Professor Robert Peckitt Judge David Goodin made a Hospital Order under section 37 of the Mental Health Act with a restriction requirement.

Prof Peckitt told the court that Henbury suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and said she might have set light to the petrol at the police station if she hadn’t been overpowered.

He said that as a result of her illness she represented a significant risk of serious harm to the public by the commission of similar offences and he recommended that she should not be released from hospital until the medical authorities decided it was safe to do so.