Man Climbed Onto Hospital Roof In Black Costume And Stared At Patients For 50 Minutes

tA 26-year-old man climbed onto the roof of a Welsh hospital dressed in black and carrying what witnesses believed was a scythe, then spent around 50 minutes staring down at patients and visitors below. Police and firefighters were called to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan after the bizarre sight was reported above the hospital entrance on Saturday 6 June 2026.

The man was eventually persuaded to come down and was arrested while still wearing the costume. When he appeared at Llandudno Magistrates’ Court several weeks later, he pleaded guilty to the offences arising from the incident. But there was one detail he wanted to correct: despite looking exactly like the Grim Reaper, he told the court that the costume was actually meant to represent a crow.

https://t.co/0pTdm7xfhn Man Arrested for Dressing as Grim Reaper on Hospital Roof. pic.twitter.com/Y5UeRPqD9F

— Rod Ryan Show (@rodryanshow) August 17, 2026

A Hooded Figure Appeared Above The Hospital Entrance

According to reports of the case, witnesses noticed a man standing on the roof above the hospital entrance. He was dressed entirely in black and wore a hood, while the long curved object in his hands looked to people on the ground like a scythe.

The figure reportedly remained largely motionless as he looked down at people entering and leaving the building. At times, he also made noises towards people below. Four police cars and a fire service crew were eventually sent to the hospital as officers dealt with the unusual situation.

Un hombre de 26 años, disfrazado de La Parca, fue detenido y sancionado tras subirse al tejado del hospital galés de Ysbyty Glan Clwyd. Realmente atentó contra la salud mental de los pacientes internados al mirarlos durante casi 50 minutos. pic.twitter.com/5yOdw4m5fW

— ZӨПΛ DΣ MIΣDӨ (@MortalTerror) August 18, 2026

He Stayed On The Roof For Around 50 Minutes

The incident did not end quickly. Reports put the amount of time the man spent on the hospital roof at close to 50 minutes, leaving a disturbing figure visible above an entrance used by patients, visitors and staff.

There was no reported physical injury connected to the incident in the coverage supplied. The response instead focused on getting the man safely down from the roof and dealing with the disturbance at the hospital.

Officers eventually persuaded him to come down. He was then arrested in the same outfit he had been wearing while standing above the hospital. The man was identified as Leon Gillespie, 26, from Deganwy, a few miles from the hospital.

The Court Heard A Very Strange Explanation

Gillespie appeared before Llandudno Magistrates’ Court on 15 July and pleaded guilty to causing a nuisance or disturbance without reasonable excuse on NHS premises. He also admitted refusing to leave after being instructed to do so by a constable.

He was fined £200 for the hospital offences. The court did not receive a reported explanation for why he had climbed onto the roof, why he remained there for so long or what prompted him to stare down at people below.

What Gillespie did correct was the description of his costume. Despite witnesses seeing what appeared to be a hooded figure carrying a scythe, he told the court that he was not dressed as the Grim Reaper. He said the costume represented a crow.

The Other Offences Were Unrelated

Two separate theft matters were also dealt with during the same court hearing. Gillespie admitted stealing between £30 and £40 worth of cat food and cat litter from a Pets at Home store in Llandudno on 26 March.

He also admitted stealing food and drink from a Sainsbury’s store in the same town on 28 May. Those offences resulted in another £100 in fines, £50 in compensation and £100 in prosecution costs.

Taken together with the £200 fine connected to the hospital incident, Gillespie was ordered to pay £450.

Why Everyone Thought They Were Looking At The Grim Reaper

The confusion over the costume is understandable because the image described by witnesses closely matches one of the most recognisable representations of death in Western culture.

The hooded figure carrying a scythe became strongly associated with the personification of Death in European art, particularly following the devastation caused by the Black Death. Artists used skeletal figures and other imagery to represent mortality during periods when plague, famine and war had made death an unavoidable part of everyday life.

The scythe itself came from agriculture. Farmers used the tool to cut down crops, making it an obvious visual symbol for a figure imagined to cut down human lives. The imagery became especially familiar through traditions such as the Danse Macabre.

So while Gillespie told the court that the outfit represented a crow, the silhouette seen above a hospital entrance carried a very different meaning for the people looking up.

The Hospital Also Contains A Major Cancer Centre

The setting made the incident particularly striking.

Ysbyty Glan Clwyd contains the North Wales Cancer Treatment Centre, one of three specialist centres in Wales providing external beam radiotherapy. Patients from across north Wales travel to the facility for treatment.

The Welsh Government has also committed £9.49 million toward replacing two ageing linear accelerators at the centre. These machines are used to deliver radiotherapy to cancer patients.

The supplied reporting does not establish how individual patients reacted to the figure on the roof, so it would be wrong to speculate about their feelings. What is clear is that the incident took place at a hospital where people were arriving for serious medical treatment.

The Law Specifically Covers Disturbances On NHS Premises

The offence Gillespie pleaded guilty to is covered by Section 119 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.

The legislation makes it an offence for a person to cause a nuisance or disturbance without reasonable excuse while on NHS premises, then refuse to leave when asked by a constable or member of NHS staff. The provision applies to people who are not on the premises to receive treatment themselves.

The offence carries a maximum penalty of level 3 on the standard scale, which is £1,000. Gillespie received a £200 fine for the hospital-related offences, alongside the penalties imposed for the separate theft matters.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, which operates Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, has previously stated that it takes a zero-tolerance approach to abuse, aggression and nuisance across its hospital sites.

The Strangeest Detail Was Never Explained

The case leaves a sizeable gap between what happened on the roof and what the court ultimately dealt with.

There is a reported account of a man climbing onto a hospital roof in a black hooded costume. There are witnesses who described an object resembling a scythe, a police and fire service response, an arrest and a later guilty plea.

There is also Gillespie’s insistence that the outfit was a crow rather than the Grim Reaper. But the reporting supplied for the case does not provide an explanation for why he climbed onto the roof in the first place.

The Grim Reaper Was Apparently A Crow

For roughly 50 minutes on 6 June, a figure dressed in black stood above a Welsh hospital entrance while patients and visitors moved below.

Police eventually brought the situation to an end, and the court later imposed a £200 fine for the hospital offences. The additional theft cases brought the total financial penalties to £450.

But the most memorable detail remains the one that still has no reported explanation. The man who looked to witnesses like the Grim Reaper said he was actually dressed as a crow, and nobody has publicly explained why that crow needed to spend 50 minutes on a hospital roof.