A mental health nurse was left with permanent scars and feeling fearful at work after being stabbed in the face by a patient at a Welsh hospital, a court has heard.
Unprovoked Night-Time Attack
The violent incident occurred at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend on October 30, 2024, around 11.55pm. The nurse was conducting her nightly checks on the psychiatric care unit when the attack happened.
Alexander Horton, a 34-year-old patient from Llanarth, Monmouthshire, had been at the hospital for just three days. He calmly asked the nurse for assistance before suddenly seizing her, putting her in a headlock, and striking her face with a sharpened pen.
The assault lasted approximately eight seconds before other staff members managed to restrain Horton. The injured nurse was rushed to the hospital's own Accident and Emergency department for treatment.
Lasting Physical and Psychological Scars
In a victim personal statement read at Cardiff Crown Court during a sentencing hearing on Thursday, January 15, 2026, the nurse described the profound impact of the attack.
She sustained two cuts to her left eyebrow and one to the side of it. "I felt the pen penetrate my left eyebrow and could sense my face was wet with blood," she reported. A broken and blood-saturated pen was later recovered from the scene.
The nurse revealed she now feels apprehension when entering the ward and is hyper-aware of her surroundings, particularly around male patients. "It has left me with two scars, one to my eyebrow and another to my temple," she said. "People will ask me about the scars and I have to explain what happened and relive the incident." She added she was "lucky the pen didn't puncture my eyeball."
Sentencing and Hospital Order
Horton, who had no prior convictions, admitted to intentional strangulation and a section 18 wounding offence. The court heard that upon his arrest, he requested valium and spoke of feeling as if the "world was coming to an end" and being "trapped." He admitted he had not taken his medication on the day of the attack and said something inside him "snapped," later expressing regret and feeling "horrible."
Defence lawyers stated Horton, who suffers from schizophrenia, had not been involved in any further incidents while receiving psychiatric care and had shown no prior signs of violent behaviour.
Passing sentence, Judge Paul Hobson told Horton: "(The victim) was someone who was simply doing her job, trying to care for and help you. What you did and the injury you caused has had a profound effect upon her."
Horton was made subject to a hospital order under section 37 of the Mental Health Act.
