Killer back on the streets after spending just TWO years on psychiatric ward
Chilling echo of Nottingham triple knifing case
A PARANOID schizophrenic who kicked a female custody officer to death has been freed just two years after he was given an indefinite psychiatric hospital order.
Humphrey Burke, 30, caused 54- year- old Lorraine Barwell ‘catastrophic’ brain injuries by twice kicking her in the head ‘ like a football’ in 2015.
Burke admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility and was handed an indefinite hospital order at the Old Bailey in January last year – the same sentence given to Nottingham stabbing killer Valdo Calocane.
But in shocking new images Burke can be seen casually strolling to the shops to pick up his groceries.
Ms Barwell’s brother Paul Kirkley, 53, told The Sun: ‘How can Burke stamp my sister to death and just be out in the supermarket and going to the gym years later like nothing has happened?
‘We wanted a murder conviction at the time and look at what’s happened. As soon as they get diminished [responsibility verdict], they are on an easy life. That’s not justice for my sister.
‘It’s the same for the poor families of those Nottingham victims — they are rightfully furious about what has gone on. They will now see this and be living in fear that the monster who took their family will be back on the streets in years.’
He added that seeing Burke shopping made him ‘ feel sick’ – as he raged the killer is ‘making a mockery of the system’.
The attack happened while Burke was being escorted from Blackfriars Crown Court, south London, in handcuffs after appearing to be sentenced for attempted robbery, criminal damage and arson. The first blow knocked prison van attendant Ms Barwell to her knees and the second fractured the grandmother’s jaw, causing a brain haemorrhage. Ms Barwell, from Romford, died two days later on July 1, 2015, after her life support machine was switched off. Burke, who dropped out of a law and philosophy course at Oxford Brookes University in 2014, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia after the incident and was initially found unfit to stand trial. The families of the Nottingham attack victims have also responded in fury to the revelation.
Calocane, 32, also a paranoid schizophrenic, was last week handed a hospital order after stabbing 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley- Kumar as well as school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, and running over three other people last June.
Speaking on behalf of the victims’ families, Barnaby’s mum Emma said seeing Burke out on the streets had ‘put the fear of God’ into them. She added that Calocane should never be let out. Burke’s release would have been approved by a clinician alongside a panel or the justice minister.
In a shocking series of images released by The Sun newspaper he can be seen buying snacks from supermarkets as he walks freely through Oxford and working out at a gym.
Custody officer Gia Sofokli, who was standing feet away during the attack on Ms Barwell, described how it ‘looked like a footballer kicking a football really hard’.
She suffered ‘catastrophic brain injuries’.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman told The Sun the matter was for the mental health trust treating Burke to comment.
A spokesman for Oxford Health said: ‘Due to patient confidentiality, we do not comment on, or confirm the identities of those in our care.
‘However, if a person is being cared for by us as a result of a placement into mental health services rather than a prison sentence, part of their therapeutic time may well be spent in the community as opposed to being on a ward all the time.’
‘Families will be living in fear’