Man in Grim Reaper costume fined after rooftop stunt at Welsh hospital

On June 6, 26-year-old Leon Gillespie climbed onto the roof of Ysbyty Glan Clwyd hospital in Denbighshire, dressed in a black hooded costume and brandishing a long blade that observers likened to a scythe. He spent roughly 50 minutes on the rooftop, shouting and gesturing at doctors, patients and passersby, prompting a police response that eventually brought him down. Gillespie later admitted to a charge of causing a nuisance on NHS premises and was ordered to pay a £200 fine.

During the July 15 hearing he insisted the outfit was meant to look like a bird, not the Grim Reaper. The court also noted his prior shop-lifting crimes - stealing cat supplies and supermarket goods in Llandudno - for which he had already paid additional fines. The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board reiterated its zero-tolerance stance toward disturbances on its sites.