Care in the community 'kills 40 a year'

The Richmond Park killing is the latest in a series of attacks allegedly carried out by released mental patients.

It comes amid growing concerns over a lack of supervision of care-in-the-community patients. Responsibility for their surveillance is often shared by several agencies, including the police and local authorities, leading to confusion over roles.

The circumstances are similar to those of the killing of Jonathan Zito in 1992.

Christopher Clunis, a mental patient who had been released from hospital under the care-inthecommunity programme, stabbed the 27-year-old at Finsbury Park station. A trust set up by Mr Zito's widow, Jayne, claims 40 deaths a year are caused by the mentally ill.

Another recent example was that of a devil-worshipper who sacrificed his girlfriend on a "Nazi" altar.

Conrad Stanford, 21, described as "extremely dangerous" by the judge who jailed him for life four months ago, was being monitored by Hackney social services and had only just left the care of a local authority children's home.

Another high-profile case was that of Camden Ripper Anthony Hardy, who committed three murders after being released from hospital without surveillance.

The 54-year-old was released into the community by authorities at St Luke's Hospital in Muswell Hill, after health managers decided he did not meet the criteria for detention. He had displayed signs of mental illness since 1982 and had been in and out of mental institutions.

Although he should have been supervised after his release, he was deemed "low to medium risk".

The killing spree raised serious questions about the mental health protection system in the UK.

Meanwhile, senior Treasury official Michael Parsonage was turned away from Barnet General Hospital by a trainee psychiatrist less than two hours before bludgeoning his wife to death with a hammer.

The 51-year-old, who had a first-class Oxford degree, killed his wife Carole on the doorstep of their East Finchley home six years ago after becoming depressed by the complications of an affair with a Whitehall colleague.