Killers in waiting: Special patients need special monitoring

29th April 2016

“This could very easily have become this guy’s second murder”McVicar.

Fourteen years ago Richard Hawkins murdered his brother. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and detained as a “special patient” in a secure mental hospital. That status was lifted in 2011, and Hawkins was discharged into the community. Now he has been made a special patient once again, after coming off his medication and stabbing a man in the face.

“This could very easily have become this guy’s second murder” said Sensible Sentencing founder Garth McVicar.

“People who are found not guilty by reason of insanity are always going to be dangerous. No-one with paranoid schizophrenia is ever miraculously cured. They will always remain a danger to society unless they are medicated and closely monitored. That monitoring clearly failed in Hawkins’ case” McVicar said.

“How many other former special patients have reoffended violently? We simply don’t know. The mental health authorities are hugely protective of the patients in their care, and put patient confidentiality ahead of public safety or our right to know about potentially dangerous patients released into the community because some psychiatrist thinks a person is safe. While the Minister of Health technically signs off such releases, obviously in practice he or she acts on medical advice”

“There is at least one example of a mentally ill killer being released and killing again. In 1969 Paul Julian stabbed his sister to death with a knife, was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and detained as a special patient. He was released back in the community in 1981, supposedly safe, and within months had killed a woman and her boyfriend in a frenzied attack. The mental health professionals got it wrong with Julian, and also clearly with Hawkins” said McVicar.

“Although many people find it difficult to accept, we understand that dangerously mentally ill people can become safe to leave hospital – but only if they remain on their medication. In this latest case, Hawkins apparently went off his medication, began using illegal drugs and alcohol, and eluded those who were responsible for his ‘community care’. The result was a further violent attack that could have become a murder, and this is completely unacceptable” said McVicar.

“Special patients who are released into the community should always remain in a separate category from other mental health patients. If they give their carers the slip, the police should immediately be alerted, and that person found as a matter of extreme urgency. Such people should be treated exactly the same as an escaped prisoner. While an escaped prisoner may or may not be dangerous, a mentally ill person who has killed, and is off his medication always will be” McVicar said.

“The government urgently needs to review the rules and protocols which apply to special patients who are released. If they don’t, next time the outcome may be much worse. Hawkins’ second victim is a very lucky man”

ENDS

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