Attempted murderer ‘should not have been imprisoned’

A MAN who was jailed for life 15 years ago for a savage attempted murder was mentally ill and should not have gone to prison, judges have ruled.

Matthew Kitchener, now 34, from Porthcawl, attacked victim Helen John-Hall on the doorstep of her Wellfield Avenue home in the town on his 20th birthday in August 2002.

She was stabbed in the neck and strangled, and only survived because a neighbour disturbed Kitchener and he made off.

He confessed to a friend, who called the police, and Kitchener pleaded guilty to attempted murder at Cardiff Crown Court in November that year.

He has been locked away ever since, first in a series of young offenders institutions and prisons, then at psychiatric hospitals.

And yesterday, after an appeal by his lawyers, three senior judges said he should never have been sent to jail in the first place.

Lord Justice Flaux said Kitchener had served five years in 2007 and was being considered for a move to an open prison when mental health concerns arose.

He was assessed and “scored very highly” on a psychopathy test, resulting in him actually being moved to more secure conditions.

There, Kitchener, formerly of Philadelphia Road, attempted suicide and spoke of “increasingly violent thoughts and fantasies”.

He was sectioned and has since then been confined to various secure mental hospitals, where he is receiving treatment.

Assessment of the offender, who now uses the name Jude Armel, in those settings had resulted in a diagnosis of a “psychopathic disorder”.

It was probably that disorder which caused the apparently motiveless and impulsive attack, as opposed to any “criminal motive”, experts said.

Allowing his appeal, the judge, sitting with Mr Justice Blake and Mr Justice William Davis, said he was convinced Kitchener had suffered from the psychopathic disorder at the time.

He added: “We are satisfied that the commission of this very serious crime is substantially attributable to this disorder.

“Its impulsive nature so indicates and, after prolonged investigation, the absence of any other rational explanation for why he committed it strongly supports that conclusion.

“In the light of what is now known, he needs hospital treatment.

“His disorder was not initially identified in prison and cannot be treated there.

“Prison is counter-productive to the treatment needed, that can only be provided in a hospital setting.”

The life term was replaced with a mental health order, meaning he will be detained and treated in a mental hospital until experts are convinced he is not a danger.