A MAN who threatened to set fire to a hospital and put a brick through a police station window has been jailed.

Aaron Jenkins, 35, from Newport vowed to torch the city’s Royal Gwent Hospital last week on Wednesday, July 17.

He also threatened to throw a brick through a window at Newport Central police station or through the windscreen of a police car on the same day.

Jenkins, of no fixed abode, admitted two counts of making a threat to damage or destroy property.

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Presiding justices at Newport Magistrates' Court were asked to take into account the mitigating factor of the defendant’s guilty pleas

They told him that the offences were so serious that only a custodial sentence could be justified.

He was jailed for 48 weeks and told he would serve half of that sentence in custody.

Jenkins will have to pay an £187 statutory victim surcharge following his release from prison.

After the case, Superintendent Jason White from Gwent Police said: “Our officers, along with other emergency services personnel, often deal with people during the worst moments in their lives.

“However, that does not excuse the abuse, threats, or violence that they experience on a daily basis – no-one should have to come to work in that environment.

“While in this case the threats were made against police property, damage to police cars, stations and custody suites can have huge ramifications.

“It can affect our ability to respond to emergency calls and any damage would need to be repaired, which as a public resource, it is the taxpayer who would have to assist with.”