Mental patient manhunt

A huge manhunt was under way today after a mental patient escaped from his guards.

Police have warned the public not to approach paranoid schizophrenic Mark Ricketts, 38, who was sent to Broadmoor high-security hospital indefinitely after he attacked and stabbed a man more than 20 times.

He had been escorted from Broadmoor in Berkshire to Springfield Hospital in Tooting by three guards in a specially adapted people carrier.

Ricketts, who was due to be assessed by psychiatric doctors at Springfield, was believed to have been exercising in the grounds of the hospital when he fled. He was last seen sprinting towards a local golf course before disappearing into the distance.

Last week John Barrett, 41, a voluntary patient at Springfield Hospital, was charged with the murder of cyclist Denis Finnegan, 50, in Richmond Park.

A massive search of the surrounding area was launched immediately after Ricketts escaped but there was no trace of him. He is 6ft 3in, weighs 17 stone and has a history of unprovoked violence.

In 1994 he was convicted of attempted murder after he dragged doorman Mark Kemp out of an amusement arcade and stabbed him repeatedly in the chest. He then calmly walked away and took a mini-cab home. Mr Kemp only survived because the six-inch blade was bent 45 degrees as he tried to parry the blows with his arm.

In 1989 Ricketts was sent to Springfield Hospital following an attack in which he smashed house windows.

He was released back into the community in 1992 to be with his pregnant girlfriend in a flat provided by social services

Police have classed Ricketts, a former labourer originally from Morden, as a "medium-risk", but it is understood they were worried he might attack a passer-by when his medication wore off.

A police spokesman said: "We are searching for a man who absconded from the grounds of Springfield Hospital whilst on a visit from Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire."

They have urged the public not to approach Ricketts but to dial 999 if they see him. He is described as black, with brown eyes, a shaved head and face coveredin stubble. He was last seen wearing a blue denim jacket, a long-sleeved blue shirt, a pair of blue jeans and white Reebok trainers.

A spokesman for Broadmoor said last night they had launched a full-scale inquiry into how Ricketts managed to escape.

Yesterday the Government unveiled the long-awaited Mental Health Bill. The new laws would hand psychiatrists the power to detain people with severe personality disorders who are deemed a danger to themselves or others.

Some care-in-thecommunity patients would be forced to turn up for treatmentat local clinics. Those who dropped out would be taken back into secure hospitals.

Ministers hope the moves can help prevent rare but tragic murders involving attacks on strangers by dangerouslyill schizophrenics.