Family of man killed by psychiatric patient say they’ve been ‘treated like dirt’ after learning attacker can leave hospital
The family of a dog walker killed by a psychiatric patient say they have been ‘treated like dirt’ by the NHS after learning his attacker has been granted permission to leave hospital.
Lewis Stone was stabbed to death by David Fleet in a random attack in Borth, Wales, in 2019, shortly after Mr Fleet had been released into the community.
Mr Stone’s family were informed of the update to his care just hours after Sky News aired their first TV interview calling for an internal NHS Trust report into its handling of Fleet’s case to be released.
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From 10 April: Victim’s family demand answers over killer’s NHS care
Mr Stone’s stepdaughter, Vicki Lindsay, told Sky News: “As victims, we have been treated disgracefully.
“We still do not know why the killer was released 10 days before he attacked Lewis, who made that decision and why, and who is going to be held accountable for it.
“But as if all that were not bad enough, only six years on, we now get to live knowing that the killer is now allowed out at night time.”
Ms Lindsay also told Sky’s Sarah-Jane Mee that “my biggest fear is that it’s going to happen again – I can’t sleep at night thinking about other families going through what we’ve gone through”.
Mr Fleet was sectioned under the Mental Health Act after admitting manslaughter with diminished responsibility.
He was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attack and told psychiatrists that if he had not stabbed Mr Stone, the voices in his head “were going to kill him”.
Lewis Stone was fatally stabbed in February 2019
Patients who have committed a mental health-related homicide can be granted permission to leave their hospital under Section 17 of the Mental Health Act.
It is considered part of the patient’s rehabilitation and preparation for eventual discharge.
What has the MoJ said?
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We understand this decision will be difficult for the Stone family, and our thoughts are with them.
“Any decision to approve access to the community is only made after a thorough risk assessment and with strict safeguards in place.”
Lewis Stone with his granddaughter Sammy
The Hywel Dda health board says it does not intend to release an internal report into Fleet’s care.
Sharon Daniel, the interim executive director for nursing, quality and patient experience, said: “The duty of candour for patients came into force in Wales in April 2023.
“At the time of this incident and concern, we fulfilled our duties to be open.”
A senior NHS official has called the decision not to release the internal report “callous and uncaring”. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said: “On the face of it, this family has been failed multiple times over.
“Of course, there is a balance to be struck between the rights of the family and the rights of the person detained, but the basic lack of transparency and consideration here undermines the duty of candour.”
Freedom of Information requests made by the victim’s support organisation Hundred Families have found that nearly 400 people were killed by former mental health patients between 2018 and 2023.
However, this number is expected to be a significant underestimate as a quarter of NHS Mental Health Trusts refused to say how many of their patients went on to kill, as they don’t want to risk identifying offenders.
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Julian Hendy, who founded Hundred Families, said: “Unfortunately the family of Lewis Stone is not alone. There is a terrible lack of openness and transparency and that needs to change.
“The public needs to know that mental health services are keeping people safe and learning effectively when things go wrong.
“At the moment, by failing to share information the public cannot be reassured.”
A brother and sister have been jailed for the murder of a drug dealer in a “ferocious” knife attack.
Isaiah Marsh, 21, and his 23-year-old sibling Mya Marsh were sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison for killing Minister Enfrence, 21, in a row over a £200 cannabis debt.
Bank worker Mya was trying to buy drugs from Mr Enfrence in Kings Norton, Birmingham, when she met him armed with a kitchen knife at about 10am on 5 November, the city’s crown court heard.
Judge Simon Drew KC said that Mya was the aggressor in an initial confrontation with Mr Enfrence over the debt as he sentenced the siblings on Thursday.
Mya called her brother Isaiah to the scene, who “launched a ferocious attack on Minister as he lay defenceless on his back on the floor” and had intended to kill, the judge said.
Mr Enfrence suffered at least 12 stab wounds to his body, arms, hands and head in the “unprovoked” attack.
He did not die instantly and managed to escape before collapsing nearby.
Judge Drew said footage of the attack, which was caught on CCTV, was “truly sickening” to watch as Mr Enfrence died a “traumatic and painful death”.
Minister Enfrence was killed on 5 November. Pic: West Midlands Police
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The footage shows Mya passing a knife to her brother during the stabbing.
The judge told them: “This was an attack by two people on one. That attack was unprovoked. Members of the public, including a child in a pushchair, passed very close by while the attack was taking place.”
After the killing, Mya went to work “as if nothing had happened” after taking the morning off work, citing mental health problems, the court was told.
Isaiah later handed himself in to the police.
A jury unanimously convicted the siblings of murder on Monday following a three-week trial.
Both had denied murder and alternative charges of manslaughter.
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Isaiah claimed he acted in self-defence, while Mya claimed she did not believe her brother would use the knife to stab Mr Enfrence.
Rachel Brand KC, representing Mya, said the attack was “utterly out of character” for her client and that Mya had shouted “stop it” and “break it up” during her brother and Mr Enfrence’s struggle.
Isaiah, meanwhile, would find it “almost impossible to reconcile what he saw on the CCTV with who he is”, his barrister Michael Ivers KC told the court.
“He has told everyone who will listen when they have spoken to him that he is full of remorse about what happened,” Mr Ivers said.
Police investigating the torture and killing of a pair of kittens in west London have published CCTV pictures of two teenagers they want to speak to.
Warning: This article contains details some readers may find distressing
The Metropolitan Police were tipped off on 3 May that two teenagers had allegedly dismembered the animals at Ickenham Road, Ruislip.
No arrests have been made.
Officers released footage of a boy and a girl on Thursday and asked people to help identify them.
The boy is described by the Met as 5ft 6in (168cm) tall, with short dark hair. He was wearing a dark jacket with long sleeves, with blue jeans.
Police sergeant Babs Rock said the boy “was also seen carrying a black duffel bag, which sadly is thought to have contained the kittens”.
The two youths. Pic: Metropolitan Police/PA
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Sergeant Rock said the young girl was the same height as the boy, with long red hair.
“She was wearing a white top with black shorts. She was also carrying a purple jumper, which she later puts on to wear,” she said.
“If you know these two individuals then please come forward to us, we would like to speak with them as soon as possible.”
In the video, the pair are seen walking down a street and then later running back the way they came.
Sergeant Rock described it as “an incredibly distressing incident which I know has caused concern in the local community”.
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