When Annie got the call on a Friday afternoon in March this year, she was on her way to pick up her daughter from school.
Her son, in his early twenties, was being discharged, with immediate effect from the mental health unit Wotton Lawn in Gloucester, where he had been sectioned in the psychiatric intensive care unit.
“You are being discharged as homeless,” the staff member said, while Annie listened in.
Annie told them she was recording the call, and pleaded to keep him in, warning that this course of action would be potentially fatal for her son.
She was told he had allegedly assaulted another patient. He denied it.
But for several days leading up to this moment the hospital had warned his mother it was time for him to leave.
The young man, we will call ‘John,’ indicated that he was having suicidal thoughts. His confused response to what was happening was that he wanted “euthanasia”.
Annie warned staff she couldn’t get there to pick him up, but they pressed on with the discharge.
The staff member told John: “We are going to formally discharge you at half past four this afternoon. So, you won’t be a patient on this ward at half past four.
“And if you do refuse to leave you will be trespassing and the police will be removing you.”
After the discharge time had elapsed, Annie called her son again.
Image: Annie’s son survived despite sustaining serious injuries
There was no reply – until eventually a member of the public answered the phone.
A woman told Annie that her son was badly injured and being treated by paramedics having thrown himself off a bridge.
“So, he’d basically been told to get out of the mental hospital and two minutes later, he’s on the tracks,” says Annie. “He just walked out of the door, jumped headfirst off a bridge.
“He smashed his skull, his face, had a brain haemorrhage, smashed his arms and legs and punctured his spleen.”
Incredibly, he survived.
That evening Wotton Lawn staff members left some of John’s belongings outside for Annie to collect.
She says no one spoke to her.
In the weeks leading up to this moment, Annie had already been talking to Sky News because she felt her son was not getting proper treatment or care at Wotton Lawn.
She said despite him being sectioned under the Mental Health Act, he was frequently going missing from the hospital.
She says she was unable to see his care plan and that doctors discouraged her from communicating with them.
She claims one consultant even said he would block her emails, after she told him she wanted to put her concerns in writing.
In that period, we collected the stories of several other families and patients who had recently been in the hospital and their experiences echoed Annie’s.
Image: Heidi Hanks said she pleaded to be readmitted to the hospital
Staff gave tablets to patient despite overdose risk
Heidi Hanks was in Wotton Lawn for a period of eight weeks in late 2022 into 2023.
Her husband John says he had no contact with the hospital while she was in their care.
He said: “I’ve never seen her care plan, never spoken to a doctor. I called the hospital to say, ‘what’s the progress, what’s going on?’
“I never got anything back over the whole time she was there.”
Heidi would go missing from the premises and was once found by a member of the public walking down train tracks.
She says when she returned, no one asked her about what had happened.
Heidi says she too was discharged too soon.
She returned the next day pleading to be readmitted because voices were telling her to take an overdose.
She says despite this, she was told to go home and handed the very tablets she had said she was going to take an overdose with.
She swallowed the pills, just outside the hospital, and her husband collected her and took her to A&E.
Image: Photographs obtained by Sky News show staff asleep
Staff photographed asleep in their chairs
Sky News has obtained photographs of several staff members asleep in their chairs in different parts of the hospital.
These pictures have been taken by patients who say those staff members should have been alert and keeping an eye on the people in their care.
Another patient, who we will call ‘Jamie’, says he wasn’t properly watched and despite supposedly having round-the-clock care, was able to get onto the roof of the hospital and jump off it.
‘I wasn’t in a safe place’
Jamie told Sky News: “I broke both my legs, my wrists, my arm my back and my pelvis.
“I was hearing voices and I should have been in a safe place, where I can’t get out and there are no roofs I could jump off.
“But I wasn’t in a safe place at all.”
He says he was mostly looked after by inexperienced agency or ‘bank’ staff and was isolated from his family.
A Care Quality Commission report on the hospital found the psychiatric intensive care units had a 32% vacancy rate and “high rates of bank and agency staff”.
The service rated overall as ‘good’.
But they also found most relatives “had not been given information or been involved in decisions about their relative”.
All the relatives or carers who spoke to the CQC said “they had not been given the opportunity of providing feedback”.
Image: Nicky Davis says she has been able to access the roof on numerous occasions
One patient ‘able to access hospital roof for years’
Another patient, Nicky Davis, is currently in Wotton Lawn.
She has taken photographs of herself on the roof of the hospital on numerous occasions.
She says she’s been able to access it by the same route “for years” having been in and out of the hospital over a six-year period.
Even when on the hospital’s most secure psychiatric ward for the most at-risk patients, Nicky says she was able to access the roof through a window, and on one occasion attempted suicide.
Nicky says the high use of agency staff means patients don’t form a relationship with their carers but the thing that upsets her most is sleeping staff and claims this is widespread and it’s not just at night, but more often on the afternoon into evening shift.
Image: Nicky Davis, left, with her twin sister Laura
‘I’ve actually seen patients walk out of the hospital’
Her mother Joanna Davis, and stepfather Darren Watts, say the level of care is inadequate.
Joanna said: “I’ve seen staff asleep. I’ve seen staff when she’s been escorted to the hospital fall asleep.
“I’ve seen the chair on the door empty so that patients are able to abscond.
“I’ve actually seen patients walk out of the hospital and Nicky have to say to a member of staff, ‘that patient is not allowed leave’.”
Nicky’s twin sister Laura committed suicide after she stayed at Wotton Lawn.
An inquest at Cheshire’s Coroner’s Court completed in February 2023 found Wotton Lawn failed to pass on crucial information about Laura to another hospital, leading to a fatal mistake.
The inquest states: “The information transferred from Wotton Lawn Hospital to Arbury Court Hospital about Laura was deficient, in that it did not include anything about a recent incident.”
It goes on to describe how she had tried to commit suicide in Wotton Lawn and then used the same method successfully because staff hadn’t realised a particular object posed a risk.
‘People can abscond from the psychiatric hospital’
Joy Higgins, from the local Gloucester charity Suicide Crisis, is a former patient at Wotton Lawn.
She says she has spent months examining inquests which have shown failures at Wotton Lawn and other hospitals and the lessons are not being learned.
“I think in particular, where patients have been able to access harmful items on the ward and that’s something that we have seen at more than one inquest, tragically.
“And so that suggests very strongly that the learning has not been taken from the inquest and that it is simply repeating.
“And what we have seen in inquest after inquest is the frequency with which people can abscond from the psychiatric hospital when they are assessed as being at high risk of suicide.”
She added: “It’s a repeated issue that’s been going on not just for months, but for years, where patients are being able to simply leave.
“It’s a requirement that the exit doors are monitored to prevent patients leaving. But too often there are no staff there.
“And so, for me, it’s a management issue and ultimately a senior management issue. The leadership of the trust.”
Trust admits ‘we do not always get things right’
Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Wotton lawn, said: “We are really disappointed to hear these reports and apologise to anyone who hasn’t had good experience of our care.
“Our hospital at Wotton Lawn is a therapeutic environment and, while two of the wards in the hospital are classed as secure, the majority of general hospital patients are allowed to leave the premises when appropriate and this is managed carefully on a case by case basis.
“Our colleagues work hard, often in very difficult circumstances, to support our patients to recover and be safely discharged every day, and we receive regular positive feedback.
“We know, however, that we do not always get things right.
“While we cannot respond with specific details, context and facts due to patient confidentiality, we were already aware of the cases detailed and have reviewed them fully.
“We take the allegations of staff sleeping on duty very seriously and will investigate further once full details are shared with us.
“We are constantly reviewing our processes and procedures, and will continue to speak to patients and families about improvements they would like to see within the hospital and improve our services based on their feedback.”
But national charities such as SANE and MIND have expressed growing concerns about the state of mental health services across the UK.
Wotton Lawn seems to be another example where patients are being failed.
:: Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
Another 23 female potential victims have reported that they may have been raped by Zhenhao Zou – the Chinese PhD student detectives believe may be one of the country’s most prolific sex offenders.
The Metropolitan Police launched an international appeal after Zou, 28, was convicted of drugging and raping 10 women following a trial at the Inner London Crown Court last month.
Detectives have not confirmed whether the 23 people who have come forward add to their estimates that more than 50 other women worldwide may have been targeted by the University College London student.
Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth said: “We have victims reaching out to us from different parts of the globe.
“At the moment, the primary places where we believe offending may have occurred at this time appears to be both in England, here in London, and over in China.”
Image: Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth
Zou lived in a student flat in Woburn Place, near Russell Square in central London, and later in a flat in the Uncle building in Churchyard Row in Elephant and Castle, south London.
He had also been a student at Queen’s University Belfast, where he studied mechanical engineering from 2017 until 2019. Police say they have not had any reports from Belfast but added they were “open-minded about that”.
“Given how active and prolific Zou appears to have been with his awful offending, there is every prospect that he could have offended anywhere in the world,” Mr Southworth said.
“We wouldn’t want anyone to write off the fact they may have been a victim of his behaviour simply by virtue of the fact that you are from a certain place.
“The bottom line is, if you think you may have been affected by Zhenhao Zou or someone you know may have been, please don’t hold back. Please make contact with us.”
Image: Pic: Met Police
Zou used hidden or handheld cameras to record his attacks, and kept the footage and often the women’s belongings as souvenirs.
He targeted young, Chinese women, inviting them to his flat for drinks or to study, before drugging and assaulting them.
Zou was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim, as well as three counts of voyeurism, 10 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one count of false imprisonment and three counts of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.
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Moment police arrest rapist student
Mr Southworth said: “Of those 10 victims, several were not identified so as we could be sure exactly where in the world they were, but their cases, nevertheless, were sufficient to see convictions at court.
“There were also, at the time, 50 videos that were identified of further potential female victims of Zhenhao Zou’s awful crimes.
“We are still working to identify all of those women in those videos.
“We have now, thankfully, had 23 victim survivors come forward through the appeal that we’ve conducted, some of whom may be identical with some of the females that we saw in those videos, some of whom may even turn out to be from the original indicted cases.”
Mr Southworth added: “Ultimately, now it’s the investigation team’s job to professionally pick our way through those individual pieces of evidence, those individual victims’ stories, to see if we can identify who may have been a victim, when and where, so then we can bring Zou to justice for the full extent of his crimes.”
Mr Southworth said more resources will be put into the investigation, and that detectives are looking to understand “what may have happened without wishing to revisit the trauma, but in a way that enables [the potential victims] to give evidence in the best possible way.”
The Metropolitan Police is appealing to anyone who thinks they may have been targeted by Zou to contact the force either by emailing survivors@met.police.uk, or via the major incident public portal on the force’s website.
An 11-year-old girl who went missing after entering the River Thames has been named as Kaliyah Coa.
An “extensive search” has been carried out after the incident in east London at around 1.30pm on Monday.
Police said the child had been playing during a school inset day and entered the water near Barge House Causeway, North Woolwich.
A recovery mission is now said to be under way to find Kaliyah along the Thames, with the Metropolitan Police carrying out an extensive examination of the area.
Image: Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope in North Woolwich leading into the Thames
Chief Superintendent Dan Card thanked members of the public and emergency teams who responded to “carry out a large-scale search during a highly pressurised and distressing time”.
He also confirmed drone technology and boats were being used to “conduct a thorough search over a wide area”.
He added: “Our specialist officers are supporting Kaliyah’s family through this deeply upsetting time and our thoughts go out to all those impacted by what has happened.”
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“Equally we appreciate this has affected the wider community who have been extremely supportive. You will see extra officers in the area during the coming days.”
On Monday, Kerry Benadjaoud, a 62-year-old resident from the area, said she heard of the incident from her next-door neighbour, who “was outside doing her garden and there was two little kids running, and they said ‘my friend’s in the water'”.
When she arrived at the scene with a life ring, a man told her he had called the police, “but he said at the time he could see her hands going down”.
Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope that goes directly into the River Thames and is used to transport boats.
Residents pointed out that it appeared to be covered in moss and was slippery.
Major developers will only deal with one regulator under planning reforms which ministers say will “rewire the system” to get Britain building – all while protecting the environment.
A review by former Labour adviser Dan Corry into Britain’s sluggish system of green regulation has concluded that existing environmental regulators should remain in place, while rejecting a “bonfire of regulations”.
But Mr Corry suggested there might be circumstances in which the government look at changing the wildlife and habit rules inherited from the EU, which protect individual species.
The government has now explicitly ruled out any such change in this parliament.
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Campaigners have questioned whether the changes go far enough and will make a major difference to the rate and scale of building in the UK.
Speaking to Sky News, Environment Secretary Steve Reed insisted that accepting nine of the recommendations from the Corry review would amount to wholesale reform.
The minister said: “We can get a win-win for economic growth and for nature. And that is why we are moving ahead with proposals such as appointing a lead regulator for major developments so that the developers don’t have to navigate the architecture of multiple regulators.
“They just work for a single regulator who manages all the others on their behalf. Simplifying the online planning portal.
“These are huge changes that will save developers billions of pounds and speed up decisions doing damage to the environment.”
Mr Reed insisted that there would be “no more bat tunnels” built, even though the Corry review suggests that more work needs to be done to look again at the relevant guidance.
It says: “Rapidly reviewing the existing catalogue of compliance guidance, including on protecting bats, will identify opportunities to remove duplication, ambiguity or inconsistency.
“Natural England has already agreed to review and update their advice to Local Planning Authorities on bats to ensure there is clear, proportionate and accessible advice available.”
The review will mean:
• Appointing one lead regulator for every major infrastructure project, like Heathrow expansion
• A review on how nature rules are implemented – but not the rules themselves
• Insisting regulators focus more on government priorities, particularly growth
Economist and former charity leader Mr Corry, who led the review, said it shows that “simply scrapping regulations isn’t the answer”.
“Instead we need modern, streamlined regulation that is easier for everyone to use. While short-term trade-offs may be needed, these reforms will ultimately deliver a win-win for both nature and economic growth in the longer run.”
However, Sam Richards from Britain Remade, a thinktank trying to get Britain growing, said that while the steps are welcome, the number of regulators that report to the environment department would remain the same before and after the review. He questioned whether this would have the impact ministers claimed.