§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions in the last 10 years convicted murderers released from psychiatric institutions have killed a second time; and if, in the light of the case of Mr. Bryan Knight once again jailed for life, and Mr. MacKay convicted of manslaughter, he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsI am not aware of any case in the last 10 years where a person previously convicted of homicide and released from a psychiatric hospital has once again been convicted of homicide. Two women, however, have been convicted of homicide after discharge from hospital, each of whom had previously been charged with the murder of her child and who had then been found insane on arraignment and guilty but insane respectively. Bryan Knight and Patrick MacKay, both recently convicted of homicide, had not previously been convicted of this crime.
At Leicester Assizes on 19th November 1970 Bryan Knight pleaded guilty to charges of causing grievous bodily harm and theft and, on medical evidence that he was suffering from psychopathic disorder, the court made an order for his detention in Broadmoor Hospital together with an order making him subject to the special restrictions in Section 65 of the Mental Health Act 1959 without limit of time. Knight was conditionally discharged from Broadmoor in August 1973, on the authority of the then Home Secretary, in the light of reports from two consultants that he had benefited enormously from treatment and was fit to leave hospital. He was subject on discharge to supervision by a probation officer and psychiatric oversight by a Broadmoor consultant.
I fully understand the public concern caused by this case and other recent cases of grave crimes committed by persons previously convicted and detained in psychiatric hospitals, and the whole House will deeply sympathise with those who have suffered as a result. The difficult 2W problems involved in the treatment of mentally disordered offenders are fully described in the report by the Butler Committee which was published recently. With my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services, I am considering the Committee's many recommendations, and I am giving specially urgent attention to their proposals for further safeguards in the procedures relating to those patients whose discharge or transfer are my responsibility by reason of a court order making them subject to the special restrictions under Section 65 of the Mental Health Act 1959. I share the Committee's view that in these cases there should be an extension of the existing arrangements for submitting proposals for discharge or transfer to the scrutiny of an independent advisory board, and I intend to introduce a wider procedure on these lines as soon as the detailed arrangements can be worked out.
Patrick MacKay was not a patient for whose discharge I or my predecessors had any responsibility. He was convicted at Essex Assizes in October 1968 of robbery with violence and malicious damage and, on medical evidence that he was suffering from psychopathic disorder, the court made an order for his detention in Moss Side Hospital. The court did not order him to be subject to the special restrictions in Section 65 of the Mental Health Act. His subsequent discharge by a Mental Health Review Tribunal and readmission to psychiatric hospitals occurred under provisions in the Mental Health Act 1959 for which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services has responsibility.