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| Granny killer’s care probe |
Care probe after killing of widow
with ‘heart of gold’
A PARANOID schizophrenic who killed a disabled Finsbury Park
great grandmother was “not considered capable of killing”
by his mental health caseworkers.
The parent body of Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social
Care Trust was called in to investigate after Rodney Anyanwu admitted
stabbing to death and robbing Violetta Vella, 82, at her eighth
floor home in Fyfield House on the Six Acres Estate, to feed his
drink and drug dependency. The trust yesterday (Thursday) denounced
as “absurd” any link between Chief Executive Erville Millar
leaving his job in January and the Anyanwu report being published.
It is the second high-profile occasion that a trust patient has
killed on Mr Millar’s watch, following the case of triple murderer
Anthony Hardy, known as the Camden Ripper.
Unemployed Anyanwu, 37, who lived in Arundel Place, Barnsbury, received
treatment from the trust from 1993 until the murder in 2002.
In the early years he was an inpatient, but later stayed in a hostel
for the homeless where he was seen by an Assertive Outreach Team
(AOT), which included regular meetings with social workers, psychiatric
nurses and psychiatrists.
The fact he was engaged with the AOT meant Anyanwu was deemed to
require a higher level of support than could be provided by a basic
Community Mental Health Team.
The outreach service helps people with “severe and persistent
mental disorders”, such as paranoid schizophrenia, asthose
at risk of “self harm, neglect, exploitation or violence”.
Anyanwu was assessed by the AOT twice weekly and had regular meetings
with hostel staff. His risk level was constantly reassessed but
an Old Bailey jury heard that Anyanwu refused to take his prescribed
anti-psychotic medication. He heard voices telling him to kill and
this was exacerbated by heroin and alcohol abuse.
At the time he murdered Mrs Vella, the trust say he appeared to
be compliant with his treatment and was showing no signs of illness.
A spokeswoman for the trust said in statement: “He had a history
of offences including theft and assault on a police officer, but
there was no indication that he could commit a homicide.”
Anyanwu was sent to Rampton High Security Hospital “without
limit of time” under Sections 37 and 41 of the Mental Health
Act.
He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to manslaughter on the grounds
of diminished responsibility.
An Islington mental health worker said: “Predicting risk is
not an exact science and is a very difficult thing to do. For anyone
who has a history of violence, only a very small minority will go
on to commit a violent act. Generally, the best predictor is their
previous history. Outreach teams constantly reassess levels of risk
but they can only make this assessment by examining the patient’s
past history and by what they are told by that person.”
Mr Millar and Lis Jones, the trust’s director of nursing, met
with Mrs Vella’s family after the initial trial in 2003, sharing
with them the findings of its own inquiry into the care and treatment
of Anyanwu.
North Central London Strategic Health Authority was commissioned
an independent review of Rodney Anyanwu’s care and treatment.
The authority said yesterday the report will be made public “once
it has been signed off”.
The trust spokeswoman said: “Now that the criminal justice
process is complete, we understand that the health authority will
be making arrangements to share the report with Mrs Vella’s
family. The Care Trust would like to express again its sincere condolences
to the family of Mrs Violetta Vella.”
She added: “The Chief Executive's contract was not time limited
so it is therefore erroneous to imply that he “left before
his contract came to an end”.
“As the latest edition of the service user publication, the
Camden Bugle, shows, there is genuine regret in our service user
community about Erville Millar moving on. It is therefore utterly
mendacious to imply that there are any negative connotations attached
to the timing or fact of his appointment to the new post in Kent.” |
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