Lampard Inquiry: Deaths of thousands of mental health patients in Essex to be investigated as families hope for answers

Published

3 months ago

September 8, 2024

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The deaths of around 2,000 mental health patients will be investigated as a long-awaited new public inquiry begins on Monday.

Warning: The following article contains details some readers may find distressing

Families of the patients who died in Essex have been campaigning for years, claiming they have not been told the truth about what happened to their loved ones.

Melanie Leahy, whose son Matthew is among those who died, believes the large number of deaths being investigated will continue to grow.

“I think we’re going to find there’s a lot, lot more. And I think it’s absolutely horrendous,” she told Sky News.

“I believe it’s a cull. It’s a cull of our most vulnerable, our most gentle, our most needy.”

Matthew Leahy, 20, died in November 2012.

He was found unresponsive in his room at the Linden Centre, a secure mental health unit in Chelmsford, eight days after he was sectioned.

His mother received a call to tell her what had happened. She raced to the hospital but it was too late.

She recalls going in and “there lay Matthew, on the trolley, he had a blue hospital gown on… And in that instant I just wanted to go and grab him and hold him and bring him back to life”.

Mrs Leahy says she was told by staff: “Don’t touch, he’s a crime scene.”

“I was taken into a side room and asked what undertaker I had planned,” she remembers. “I was planning his 21st birthday.”

It was soon after Mr Leahy’s death that she grew concerned that things she was being told about what happened didn’t add up.

Mrs Leahy also has unanswered questions about a serious allegation her son had made days before his death.

Mr Leahy had called his father and told him he had been raped.

He then called police and can be heard on the 999 call telling the operator: “I’ve been raped and the doctors refuse to acknowledge it.”

Police went to the unit but no arrests were made.

An inquest into Mr Leahy’s death found it occurred after a “series of multiple failings and missed opportunities”. Staff even falsified his care plan after he died.

During years of fighting for answers, Mrs Leahy has met many other families who have also lost loved ones who were mental health patients in Essex.

In 2021 the Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust was fined £1.5m over failures in care that led to the deaths of 11 patients after pleading guilty to safety breaches that meant it failed to “prevent suicides”.

Since then the number of deaths under investigation has continued to grow.

The 2,000 deaths the new inquiry will examine all took place between the start of 2000 and the end of 2023.

Priya Singh is a lawyer representing dozens of families involved in the inquiry and says the details of cases she’s involved with are harrowing.

“Allegations of physical abuse and sexual abuse have come up many, many, many times,” she told Sky News.

“I don’t feel that we’re just only looking at negligence here. We’re looking at abuse.”

She believes it’s essential that national recommendations are made while the new inquiry is ongoing, to protect mental health patients across the NHS.

“This is definitely happening all over the country. Psychiatric care in this country is almost not fit for purpose right now,” she says.

The inquiry will be known as the Lampard Inquiry, chaired by Baroness Lampard who previously led the investigation into abuse by Jimmy Savile in the NHS.

Paul Scott, chief executive of Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT), said: “We know how painful this time will be for those who have lost loved ones and our thoughts are with them.

“We will continue to do all we can to support Baroness Lampard and her team to provide the answers that patients, families and carers are seeking.”

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.

UK

Gatwick Airport: Police release two people who were detained amid security incident as South Terminal reopens

Published

53 mins ago

November 23, 2024

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Gatwick Airport: Police release two people who were detained amid security incident as South Terminal reopens

Two people detained during a security incident at Gatwick Airport have been allowed to continue their journeys after a suspect package saw a “large part” of the South Terminal evacuated.

The terminal was closed for hours after the discovery of a “suspected prohibited item” in a passenger’s luggage sparked an emergency response. It reopened at around 3.45pm.

Officers from the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team “made the package safe” before handing the airport back to its operator, Sussex Police said.

Their statement continued: “Two people who were detained while enquiries were ongoing have subsequently been allowed to continue their journeys.

“There will remain an increased police presence in the area to assist with passengers accessing the South Terminal for onward travel.”

The force also thanked the public and airport staff for their patience while the incident was ongoing.

Earlier the airport, which is the UK’s second busiest, said the terminal was evacuated after a “security incident”.

“The earlier security alert has now been resolved and cleared by police,” it later said in a statement on Friday afternoon.

“The South Terminal is reopening to staff and will be open to passengers shortly.”

Gatwick said some flights were cancelled while others were delayed.

It said passengers should contact their airlines for any updates on flights.

Footage on social media taken outside the airport showed crowds of travellers heading away from the terminal building.

“Arrived at London Gatwick for routine connection. Got through customs to find out they’re evacuating the entire airport,” one passenger said.

“Even people through security are being taken outside. Trains shut down,” another passenger added, who said “thousands” of people were forced to leave.

Another passenger said people near the gates were being told to stay there and not go back to the departure lounge.

People outside the airport were handed blankets and water, passengers told Sky News.

The airport said its North Terminal was still operating normally.

Gatwick Express said its trains did not call at Gatwick Airport during the police response, but the airport said trains would start calling there again once the terminal was fully reopened.

More than 600 flights were due to take off or land at Gatwick on Friday, amounting to more than 121,000 passenger seats, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

UK

Starmer says UK will ‘set out a path’ to raise defence spending to 2.5%

Published

4 hours ago

November 23, 2024

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Starmer says UK will 'set out a path' to raise defence spending to 2.5%

The UK will “set out a path” to lift defence spending to 2.5% of national income in the spring, the prime minister has said, finally offering a timeframe for an announcement on the long-awaited hike after mounting criticism.

Sir Keir Starmer gave the date during a phone call with Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO, in the wake of threats by Moscow to target UK and US military facilities following a decision by London and Washington to let Ukraine fire their missiles inside Russia.

There was no clarity though on when the 2.5% level will be achieved. The UK says it currently spends around 2.3% of GDP on defence.

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A spokeswoman for Downing Street said that the two men “began by discussing the situation in Ukraine and reiterated the importance of putting the country in the strongest possible position going into the winter”.

They also talked about the deployment of thousands of North Korean soldiers to fight alongside Russia.

“The prime minister underscored the need for all NATO countries to step up in support of our collective defence and updated on the government’s progress on the strategic defence review,” the spokeswoman said.

“His government would set out the path to 2.5% in the spring.”

The defence review will also be published in the spring.

While a date for an announcement on 2.5% will be welcomed by the Ministry of Defence, analysts have long warned that such an increase is still well below the amount that is needed to rebuild the armed forces after decades of decline to meet growing global threats from Russia, an increasingly assertive China, North Korea and Iran.

They say the UK needs to be aiming to hit at least 3% – probably higher.

With Donald Trump returning to the White House, there will be significantly more pressure on the UK and other European NATO allies to accelerate increases in defence spending.