A man who slashed his own throat in court with a smuggled blade has been released from hospital.

Gary Bell, who cut his throat in Kirklees Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, has been transferred from Leeds General Infirmary to Doncaster Young Offender Institute, a relative confirmed on Saturday.

Bell, 20, of Sycamore Court, Milnsbridge, slashed himself while he was being sentenced for three assaults and criminal damage.

The district judge who sentenced him, Michael Fanning, was hailed a hero after rushing to get towels to stem the bleeding. A security officer was slightly hurt in the scuffle.

Ambulances and police cars raced to the scene and parked up on the busy town centre ring road following the incident.

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Paramedics were called into the building and minutes later, the injured man was brought out of the courtroom on a trolley and helped into a waiting ambulance.

In an earlier hearing, Bell had pleaded guilty to beating up two males and a female, on June 18, at Reinwood Road, Quarmby.

He also admitted damaging property on that road on the same day.

Bell smuggled the blade into court hidden in cigarette papers.

Court security was stepped up on Friday and an investigation by Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service and the Ministry of Justice is being carried out.