A LOCAL LGBT activist has welcomed the indefinite hospital order handed to Ethan Stables.

Barrow's Lee Wicks, chairman of the Friends and Supporters of the Furness LGBT Community, believes if Stables had been given a prison sentence he would have been "more radicalised".

"I think a hospital order is better than prison because while it's still a custodial sentence he will also get the help he needs," Mr Wicks said.

"In a regular prison he would have been radicalised and likely come out more angry."

Mr Wicks highlighted how concerns about Stables had been raised throughout his upbringing but the authorities failed to act until it was almost too late.

"It seems like there has been a lot of missed opportunities, from his mother voicing her worries when he was a child to the GP who reported Ethan to the counter terrorism unit, where they could have nipped this in the bud much earlier.

"I'm not excusing what he has done, and let's not forget he was deemed fit to plead and therefore found to be responsible for and aware of his actions and their consequences, but he is a victim of society."

Meanwhile, Katy Bolger, who was working behind the bar at the New Empire on the night of Stables' planned attack, said she hopes the hospital order does not mean he is released too soon.

"I know that he's going to get the help he needs but I feel angry that he could be out and about in less than a year," she said.