A career criminal, who claims he is a wizard, climbed to the top of a secure mental health facility on Saturday, saying he would rather die than spend his life locked up.

Robert Brett-Deans, 34, from Croydon, was sent to Broadmoor high security hospital on June 16 last year after being arrested while driving a Ferrari containing what appeared to be a kidnap and torture kit along with thousands of pounds in cash.

He was found guilty of possessing nearly £500,000 obtained through criminal means.

He has been held in Broadmoor for over a year.

On Saturday, a witness said he managed to climb on the roof of the high security hospital and threatened to throw himself off.

Brett-Deans, who refers to himself as “The Jason”, was found unfit to plead, but a jury decided last June the allegations against him of possession of the proceeds of crime were true.

He had been caught by uniformed officers after speeding in a hired £130,000 Ferrari in March 2007.

PC Darren Salter and PC David Sprigg searched the car and found a significant amount of cash in various currencies and what appeared to be a torture and kidnapping kit containing tools and equipment, including hammers, bolt cutters, ropes and a mask.

Officers found a huge stash of cash in a hotel room at the Toby Carvery, South Croydon, booked by Brett-Deans, who at the time gave his address as Lower Addiscombe Road.

His case lasted for months last year at Croydon Crown Court, during most of which the allegedly homeless Croydon man interrupted at every opportunity with obscene and threatening comments to both the jury and court staff.

At one point in the trial, dozens of police officers descended on the court believing a rescue attempt had been organised.

Judge Tim Stow QC, who had borne the brunt of the insults, said Brett-Deans was suffering from hypomania and he accepted the recommendation of psychiatrists that he be returned to Broadmoor to be confined in the hospital unit indefinitely.

A spokeswoman from West London Mental Health NHS Trust, said: “I can confirm that a patient was on a roof for much of the day on Saturday at Broadmoor Hospital.

"The situation was well managed by hospital staff and the patient returned safely to the ward.”

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