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 A report was published yesterday into the care and treatment provided to John McFarlane, the man who killed 38 year old Mary Griffiths in Bury St Edmunds in May 2009.
A report was published yesterday into the care and treatment provided to John McFarlane, the man who killed 38 year old Mary Griffiths in Bury St Edmunds in May 2009. McFarlane had a history of mental health issues dating back 15 years.
The report found that although the risk McFarlane, a slaughterman, posed to himself had escalated in the months leading up to the killing, his behaviour gave mental health professionals no reason to suspect he would harm others.
Sian Wicks, author of the mental health investigation, said that several issues, which did not cause the death, had been identified and lessons should be learned. These include taking into account a person’s profession when assessing the risk they pose and ensuring that all agencies communicate better with one another.
A recent report from the Centre for Social Justice has recently identified that many mental health patients are not receiving the essential care they need.
Sharon Allison, a medical injury specialist at East Anglian solicitors Ashton KCJ, comments:
“This appalling case is a classic example once again of different agencies working in isolation from each other. It is a problem we see on a regular basis when representing families whose loved ones have not received the mental health care they required and as a result have committed suicide.
Significant aspects of mental health care are not working, nationally as well as in our region, and unless and until we have a system where crucial information is easily shared between different agencies, I fear that tragedies such as this one will continue to occur. Locally, the statistic that nine people under the care of the Suffolk Mental Health Trust have gone on to kill over the last two years is a powerful reminder that a significant review is needed urgently.”
Sharon regularly represents at Inquest the families of individuals who have been let down by the mental health care system. If you would like individual advice please contact her on 01842 768770. A report was published yesterday into the care and treatment provided to John McFarlane, the man who killed 38 year old Mary Griffiths in Bury St Edmunds in May 2009
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