A schizophrenic man killed a psychiatric nurse hours after being arrested and sectioned, the Old Bailey was told last week.

A jury was told that James Cann murdered Mamade Chattun at Springfield Hospital in Tooting, London, in July 2003, after being arrested nearby.

Richard Whittam, prosecuting, said Cann attacked hospital social worker Thomas White after arriving at the hospital. After Cann refused to take his medication he was left alone with Chattun, who ignored warnings from colleagues not to deal with him alone. Cann then battered Chattun to death.

Nurse Adrian Joseph, who found Chattun's body, said Cann had burst into tears and "looked like a man who had lost it completely" when he was restrained after the incident.

Cann, 22, denies murder, claiming that he acted in self-defence.

The trial continues.