Why was mentally ill man left free to kill my husband?

THE widow of an academic stabbed to death by a mentally ill man yesterday demanded to know why prosecutors had dropped charges for a previous attack days earlier.

Nadja Ensink-Teich told an inquest into the death of Dr Jeroen Ensink that she wanted a series of questions answered, including why the CPS failed to prosecute Femi Nandap for a previous knife-related offence while suffering a psychotic illness.

Yesterday, St Pancras Coroner’s Court in north London was told that Nandap, 25, who called himself “The Messiah” stabbed Dr Ensink as the tropical diseases expert was delivering cards to neighbours announcing the birth of his baby daughter.

As the medic lay bleeding to death on the pavement near his home in Islington, north London, the killer told a special constable trying to save him: “Leave him, he’s dead anyway.”

Nandap is serving an indefinite hospital order for fatally stabbing Dr Ensink, 41, in a psychotic rage in December 2015.

Messiah

Maria Hegarty, a special police constable who witnessed the scene from her living room window, described how she had tried to help.

In a statement she said: “I shouted, ‘police, police, get away from him’.”

She said Nandap had seemed “calm” and as she attempted to perform CPR on Dr Ensink, he walked over to her and said: “Leave him, he’s dead anyway.”

Police had been told that foreign student Nandap was receiving psychiatric treatment in Nigeria while on bail awaiting trial in Britain for kniferelated charges, which the CPS dropped days before he killed.

In a statement, Ms Ensink-Teich asked: “How can it be Mr Nandap, apparently so mentally unwell, was armed with a knife and was at liberty on the day he killed my husband?”

PC Adam Wellings, one of the Metropolitan Police officers involved in the arrest six months before the fatal attack, told the court Nandap had exhibited “phenomenal strength”.

In a statement he said Nandap had snatched his Taser, punched him and tried to bite his nose while grappling with him and another officer after intimidating members of the public while allegedly possessing a knife.

The officer said he was “disappointed and confused” by the decision not to prosecute.

The jury heard Nandap had had paranoid schizophrenia diagnosed, having suffered hallucinations, and believing he was a “Messiah”.

A post-mortem examination found Dr Ensink died of shock and haemorrhage, as well as multiple stab wounds to the chest and back.

At the Old Bailey in 2016, Nandap, of Woolwich, south-east London, admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The student, who was in the country to study at the London School of Economics, went on to be treated at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.

The inquest continues. Jeroen Ensink, pictured with wife Nadja, was killed near his home by Nandap, left