This is a deadly 3ft long sword disguised as a walking stick which police have seized – from a hospital.
The frightening home-made weapon was created from a copper pipe with a seven inch metal blade at the end.
It was part of a haul of 20 knives confiscated at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Devon, which also included craft knives, kitchen knives and scissors.
The haul was taken from patients and visitors or found abandoned around the hospital over the past two years.
It was handed over to police at the weekend who will now destroyed it.
Pc Sally Cliff, who collected the weapons, said: “Staff at the hospital informed us they had a selection of items found around the hospital and could I go up and seize them.
“I seized the adapted walking stick and other bladed articles from security.
“At the end of the day and those articles aren’t on the street which is my main aim.”
In 2006 a similar haul collected over three years included 40 knives and sharp objects with one small knife disguised to look like a pen.
There was also an 11-inch blade, a knife found in a patient’s sock and drug making equipment.
