Knife killing 'was avoidable'

A series of failings in the care of a paranoid schizophrenic led to him killing a man while on leave from a psychiatric hospital, an independent inquiry has ruled.The treatment given to John Barrett "fell short in a number of areas" and the death of Denis Finnegan - the man he killed in a stabbing frenzy in Richmond Park - could have been avoided.Barrett was a patient at Springfield Hospital in Tooting, south London when he was given an hour's "ground leave".He bought several kitchen knives, took a taxi to Richmond Park and repeatedly stabbed 50-year-old Mr Finnegan who was on his morning cycle ride. He said voices in his head told him to kill.The decision to give him that freedom by consultant psychiatrist Dr Gill Mezey was described by the inquiry as "seriously flawed".The inquiry also found there was insufficient monitoring of Barrett, poor communication and too much emphasis on his wishes rather than what was safe.Barrett is currently serving a life sentence at Broadmoor Hospital after pleading guilty to Mr Finnegan's manslaughter.The inquiry said: "We do not say it was predictable that John Barrett would experience command hallucinations telling him to kill, but the risk of serious violence associated with deterioration in his mental state was known."We conclude that one of the factors that contributed to the killing of Denis Finnegan was that John Barrett's illness was inadequately treated."Family spokesman John Finnegan, Denis's younger brother, praised the findings: "The report was very thorough, it has been a great relief to my family that they have gone into it in such depth to find out the exact faults and they have criticised these faults fully."We have been tragically let down not by the law but by the lack of commitment from the team at the hospital."Â© Independent Television News Limited 2006. All rights reserved.

ITN | November 16, 2006