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| ‘We could not have stopped
serial killer’ |
Special report by
RICHARD OSLEY and DAN CARRIER: Independent inquiry into ‘Camden
Ripper’ murder spree says only the killer is to blame for deaths
The panel meets the press: (from left) Professor Tom Sensky,
a consultant psychiatrist; Robert Robinson, a solicitor who
chaired the panel; and Ken Coleman, former assistant director
of social services at Westminster Council |
SERIAL killer Anthony Hardy’s murders could not have been
predicted and were not related to his long history of mental illness,
an inquiry has ruled.
The review into the care and treatment received by Hardy, jointly
commissioned by the North London Strategic Health Authority and
Camden Council, said it had not been possible to detain Hardy under
the Mental Health Act.
Psychiatrists who freed the killer from a secure mental health unit
were cleared of any blame.
A panel of three ruled that Hardy alone was responsible for his
actions and that nobody else or any other institution was to blame.
The killer had suffered from an untreatable personality disorder
but was not mentally ill at the time of his killings, according
to their findings.
The report said: “We acknowledge that this conclusion provides
a very limited answer to the questions which are in people’s
minds.”
Mental health chiefs immediately welcomed the report but warned
that they could not guarantee against future tragedies.
Erville Millar, Chief Executive of the Camden and Islington Mental
Health and Social Care Trust, told the New Journal: “I can’t
guarantee that something like this wouldn’t happen again. Most
murders are committed by people who are not mentally ill. Anthony
Hardy was not mentally ill at the time of the murders. He did have
a history of mental illness and we need to understand that but just
like people who have got asthma and diabetes they have periods of
wellness and illness. Anthony Hardy was well when he committed these
murders.” Hardy, known to regularly drink massive amounts of
cider, had already killed prostitute Sally White in his council
flat when he was arrested for pouring battery acid into a neighbour’s
letterbox in January 2002. He was later sectioned at St Luke’s
Hospital in Muswell Hill but he was released by psychiatrists in
November of that year and within six weeks had murdered vice girls
Elizabeth Valad and Brigitte MacClennan.
The report into his care said although Hardy was often thought to
have been secretly abusing alcohol on day leave, he was making progress
and that there was no legal power to detain him at St Luke’s.
Mr Millar added: “We did have concerns about his dangerousness.
We had concerns that particularly when he abused alcohol he could
be dangerous to women. But remember abusing alcohol and dangerousness
on its own cannot be a reason to detain people under the Mental
Health Act. That is insufficient to warrant being detained.”
Hardy, who became known as ‘The Camden Ripper’, was jailed
for life at the Old Bailey after confessing to three murders in
November 2003.
Consultant psychiatrists that have assessed him since his arrest
reported personal frustration.
One expert’s conclusion said: “I believe the onset of
diabetes with its subsequent sexual dysfunction was an enormous
blow for the defendant to whom sexual activity has been so important
throughout his adult life.
“His distress, anger and frustration at the diminution of his
sexual prowess has been expressed in increasingly sadistic sexual
activity, particularly when under the influence of alcohol.”
But reports have all found that he was neither manic nor psychotic
at the time of the killings.
Mr Millar said on Tuesday: “If he had been mentally ill then
clearly his responsibility would have been diminished. His responsibility
wasn’t diminished. He knew what he was doing. He is a thoroughly
bad man.”
He added: “These crimes appear to be sexually motivated and
mental illness played no part in them. After the event we can benefit
from hindsight but the murders could not have been foreseen. I think
this is an extraordinarily rare case, an incredibly rare case.
The issue about mental health and homicide is very rare in itself.”
Robert Robinson, the solicitor who led the probe, held behind closed
doors despite repeated calls for a full scale public inquiry, said:
“Our overall conclusion is that services performed satisfactorily
and that Mr Hardy’s actions were neither predictable nor related
to the mental disorder for which he was receiving treatment. We
have concluded that Mr Hardy’s mental illness was purely coincidental
to the three murders.” |
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