A MARTIAL arts expert has told how he restrained a man with mental health problems after he ran into a primary school - after the intruder had initially appeared in his house.

The incident at Highwoods Community Primary School, Colchester, in March this year, came to light after featuring in a Sky 1 documentary about call-outs attended by Essex Police earlier this month.

The man, who had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act, burst into the school reception area after being released from hospital. Pupils were in their classes at the time.

Sean Doyland, whose daughter attends the school, has now told what happened before the man burst into the school.

Mr Doyland, who is the boss of SD Martial Arts School, said the incident started in his home in Highwoods.

He said: “I was in my living room having a TV installed. This person about 6ft 1ins came through the patio doors and said to me he was pleased he had won.”

Mr Doyland asked the man what he meant and the man said he was part of a competition.

“I thought it was a wind up, he was really happy and excited,” he said. “Then he walked off down to the kitchen and got hold of my wife, Karen. He was cuddling her saying he had missed her.

“We got him out of the house, we ushered him out, then he ran and opened my car door and took money out of it.

“I pulled him out of the car. He ran across Eastwood Drive, got the bus and we called the police.”

The bus returned to Eastwood Drive a short time later and Mr Doyland asked the driver where the man had gone.

The man had got off at the Highwoods Community Centre.

Mr Doyland, who had had a hip replacement three months earlier, drove to the community centre where he saw the man “kicking and punching” cars.

He said: “I followed him and all of sudden he sprinted across the road and got into the school.

“I ran as best I could and I got to him in the reception.

“I grabbed him, got him on the floor, then I realised it was quite serious.”

Mr Doyland said the then headteacher Nigel Hookway, tried to get hold of the police.

He said: “I think it took two attempts for them to realise it was quite serious.

“They weren’t quick because Mr Hookway was getting cross with them and saying ‘I want them here now’.”

“The lad just needed to be restrained. At that moment, I didn’t know if he had a weapon on him."

Paul Disley, headteacher of Highwoods Community Primary School, said: 

“Due to the security measures and protocols that we have in place I would like to stress that our pupils and staff are very well protected. The incident, which occurred in March, was dealt with extremely quickly and sensitively. On a personal level, I would like to thank Mr Doyland, a parent of our school, who helped de-escalate the situation calmly and safely while we awaited Police support. As a school we were satisfied with the Police response.”

  • POLICE officers detained the man who burst into the school and found out he had just been released from hospital.

The intruder did not have any weapons on him and officers asked him to go to the police car outside.

They told him he needed to be detained for his own safety.

The officers also noticed he was wearing a wristband and the man informed the police he had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

One of the officers was heard asking him on the programme: “When did you get released?”

The man replied: “Just now.”

Police data checks carried out on the man’s identity showed he had been taken into hospital in Colchester a day earlier for substance abuse.

The footage showed officers contacting a hospital in Colchester to ask if he could be readmitted.

They were told it was full and they should take him to the nearest suitable alternative, in Chelmsford.

We contacted the North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust for comment and to ask about bed shortages. It said it would not be able to find out who the intruder was without a name.

Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Colchester Hospital, said it was highly unlikely it dealt with the patient.