HUNDREDS of people are trespassing on the site of a former hospital, costing its owners tens of thousands of pounds.

The NHS has been forced to warn picnickers and ghosthunters off the derelict Severalls Hospital, in Colchester.

North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, which owns the hospital, said despite the site being dangerous it continued to attract “a great deal of unwanted attention” from people wanting to photograph the buildings, ghosthunters and even picnickers.

Last month, the trust prosecuted a 20-year-old man who broke into the site on February 7.

He was ordered to do 40 hours’ unpaid work, given a one-year probation order and fined £200 by Colchester Magistrates’Court.

Bosses said this was a warning to anyone else considering trespassing.

Dominic Bradshaw, a trust security management specialist, labelled the situation “incomprehensible”.

He added: “Supported by the police, we will prosecute anyone found on site or identified via CCTV.

“The risks individuals are willing to take to access such a dilapidated and unsafe environment are not proportionate to the photographs and historical value they could possibly gain.

“Those who consider it a playground need to be aware of the risks of exposing themselves to asbestos, or serious falls, as parts of the buildings are unstable.

“Monies that should go to mental health services across north Essex are getting diverted to repair broken fences and fund security guards, due to a small number of people breaking the law.”

Recent trespass incidents included an eight months’ pregnant woman who entered to take photographs, having got in via a broken fence.

In another incident, parents travelled from Norwich with their four-year-old daughter also to take photos of the site. A YouTube video of the site uploaded by the couple was seized by the trust. A trust spokesman added: “Police were called and gave heavy advice to the parents regarding appropriate parenting and the potential to liaise with social services if seen again.”

Figures seen by the Gazette showpolice were called to the site 12 times in July 2014, and in that month damage occurred ten times.

Between December 2013 and October 2014, 331 people were found inside the fence line. The majority did not come from the area.

Security investments have included concreting holes dug under the fence line, through to adding barbed wire, additional CCTV, reinforcing the fence and cutting back trees to prevent people climbing them to get in.