Mental health patient walked out of hospital and murdered Walsall pensioner, inquiry told
A West Midlands health trust has been ordered to make urgent changes after a paranoid schizophrenic patient absconded from a hospital and violently killed a pensioner within 24 hours.
Severely ill Deborah Edwards, aged 45, managed to walk out of Dorothy Pattison Mental Health Hospital, in Walsall, to kill 76-year-old William Plant at his home in Paddock Lane, Chuckery, in the town.
The pensioner was found with 130 severe injuries, including stab wounds to his heart and lungs and virtually every bone in his face and skull fractured.
An independent inquiry has now reported that if Edwards had not been allowed out of the unlocked ward unescorted, the death would not have happened.
The inquiry found Edwards had relapsed and had delusions of being bitten by vampires before being allowed out. Doctors were also found to be prescribing different drugs, communication with the police after her disappearance should have been better, and more risk assessment should have been done in the days leading up to her disappearance.
Edwards had moved from Kent and although medics contacted her psychiatrist there, they had not received all her medical history, which the report stated could have changed their perception of her as “childlike”.
Investigators also said Level 2 patients, like Edwards, were allowed off the ward, although it should have been “common sense” for staff to prevent this, although the hospital had no security to prevent any patient walking out easily with an open door policy at the time.
Even a week before the killing, Edwards had disappeared and was found at a nearby supermarket hours later.
Nurses also told the inquiry they were shocked at the killing as they did not consider the patient a danger, despite medical records showing she had previously committed violent attacks on fellow patients in Kent.
Five recommendations have now been imposed on the trust and include ensuring all previous records are sent when a patient transfers from another trust, a stricter level of assessment by nurses before any patient is allowed to leave a ward unescorted and an enhanced observation form for nurses to note a patient’s mental state.
Mr Plant befriended Edwards hours after she absconded on August 21, 2006, and took her back to his flat where they had sex. He was attacked and killed that night.
Edwards was convicted of manslaughter in June 2007 at Wolverhampton Crown Court and detained indefinitely in a psychiatric hospital.
The patient had received treatment since 1993 for hallucinations, a preoccupation with vampires and black magic and a belief her husband wanted to kill her. Despite this, she was able to live at home with her family for some years.
Gary Graham, spokesman for Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, which took over from Walsall Teaching Primary Care Trust to run the hospital in 2008, said there had been investment in improved security and wards were now locked.
There is also more co-operation with police when any patient goes missing and CCTV cameras had been added to the site on officers’ advice.
“This incident was not predictable,” said Mr Graham. “In the past two years, we have focused ward by ward to gain national accreditation and the report recommendations have been acted on.”
Peter Blythin, director of nursing at West Midlands Health Authority, which received the official report, said: “It is a very sad case and taken very seriously by this authority.”
