A HOSPITAL chaplain has slammed supermarket gi-ants Asda and Tesco for selling fancy dress costumes “mocking” mental health patients.

The Rev David Southall, chaplain at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, has labelled the firms’ actions ignorant and “unforgivable”.

Asda has apologised and is making a £25,000 donation to the mental health charity Mind after selling a “mental patient fancy dress costume”, designed to look like a blood-splattered straitjacket with ragged edges.

Tesco has also publicly apologised for one of its halloween costumes, a bright orange adult costume called ‘Psycho Ward’ with the word “Committed” printed on the back.

But Mr Southall, an ex-psychiatric nurse who has himself suffered with stress-related depression, said he was shocked and saddened that the outfits ever went on sale in the first place.

“I thought those days of poking fun at mental health service users were behind us. Obviously not,” he said. “I have close friends who are, or have been, challenged with mental health issues from depression to bi-polar disorder and I take any attack on them personally.”

Mr Southall posted a picture of himself on Twitter with the words “this is what someone with mental health challenges looks like” in protest of the supermarkets’ actions.

He said he wanted to make a stand against the “distressing stereotypes which can compound illness and prevent wellbeing”.

“Big companies and the powerful in society have a duty to protect the vulnerable and not confirm the bigotry in some sections of society,” he said.

Mr Southall’s comments follow a host of high-profile criticism from celebrities including ex-footballer Stan Collymore and New Labour spin doctor Alastair Cam-pbell, who have both suffered from depression.

Asda apologised for the incident in a series of tweets.

They said: “We’re deeply sorry one of our fancy dress costumes has upset people. This was an unacceptable error – the product was withdrawn immediately.

“We’d like to offer our sincere apologies for the offence it’s caused and will be making a sizeable donation to Mind charity.”

A Tesco spokesman said: “We are really sorry for any offence that this has caused and we are immediately removing this product from sale.”