110 People Killed By Mentally Ill In London Since 2004 Finds Study

Some 110 people have been killed by mental health patients in London in nine years, figures show.

From 2004 to 2012, an average of 12 people every year were killed in the capital.

South London and Maudsley NHS Trust had the highest number of deaths, with 31 people being convicted.

But separate research released on Monday found people with mental illnesses were three times more likely to be victims of crime than others.

Across Britain, 615 people convicted of homicide were found to have contact with mental health services between 2001-11.

Researchers at Manchester University, who have analysed the data, also said rates have decreased since a peak in 2006.

‘Long heartbreak’

The latest figures for London, which were obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act, support this trend.

Chief executive of mental health charity Sane, Marjorie Wallace, said: “These alarming figures do such damage to the majority of mentally ill people who are never, ever, violent and are more likely to be the victims of violence.”

She said although homicides were relatively rare, more could be done to prevent further deaths.

“We’ve done an analysis which showed at least a third could be prevented and possibly more, so it’s quite unforgiveable that we are not learning the lessons.”

She said more inpatient beds were needed, as well as crisis centres. Psychiatric services also had to listen to warnings from families and friends of someone who is mentally ill, she stressed.

“If this was a physical problem, we wouldn’t be facing these kind of crisis and the long, long heartbreak of all the families involved,” she said.

‘Tragedies happen’

Martin Baggaley, medical director of South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, said although the trust had the highest number of people who had killed, the figures were not disproportionate to other trusts.

He said this was because his was a large organisation which covered more than one million people. The area also has high rates of crime and depravation.

“Of the 31 – of course is 31 too many – only 11 were felt that the actual homicide was related to their mental illness so there were some that were in contact (with the Trust), for example with alcohol addiction or depression, who carried out the homicide but the courts determined that it wasn’t related to the mental health problem,” he said.

“Nevertheless, that’s 11 too many and we take it very seriously, and we investigate all cases.”

He added: “Psychiatrists cannot control all aspects of behaviour, it’s unrealistic.

“These are difficult people sometimes to keep track of, and I don’t think we really want to live in a society where we’re going to build vast numbers of asylums and lock everybody away forever.

“So if you have people in the community, sometimes, unfortunately, tragedies are going to happen. What we have to do is really minimise those.”