Family pleaded with NHS before former soldier killed dog walker
Relatives of jailed former commando told mental health staff he had PTSD and was buying knives
THE family of a former commando who murdered an 83-year-old dog walker say they had warned doctors he had post-traumatic stress disorder and had been hoarding knives.
Alexander Palmer, 24, was jailed for a minimum of 28 years after stabbing Peter Wrighton, who was walking his pet in secluded Norfolk woodland, more than 40 times last August.
Palmer’s mother and stepfather have criticised mental health services for failing to act sufficiently quickly when they were warned that he was hoarding knives and not taking his medication.
During sessions with mental health staff, Palmer told of his disdain for dog walkers and had said he envisioned an attack at some point in the future.
His mother, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the BBC’S Look East that Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust had not appreciated the extent of his mental illness.
She said: “Alex was purchasing knives. Once he knew I knew that he’d got them, he became more secretive.
“They [mental health professionals] thought we were busybodies, interfering in Alex’s mental health and care, because they were the experts.
“I am not going to blame them solely. Maybe we should have done more, but the amount of times we were treated like we were interfering … it didn’t matter how desperate I was.”
Palmer was assaulted by a colleague in 2014 while serving with 29 Commando, and was referred to the NHS for mental health treatment, and discharged from service.
His parents told the BBC that this attack “crushed” him and he came back a “different” person, who had received
‘The amount of times we were treated like we were interfering … it didn’t matter how desperate I was’
various diagnoses from professionals. Communications between mental health professionals over the two years prior to the random attack revealed Palmer’s violent fantasies and his experience of hearing voices instructing him to commit acts of violence.
In January 2017, Palmer said to his GP that he was hearing more voices that told him to harm people and admitted that he had purchased a machete and a hunting knife.
His mother added: “There was no [acknowledgement that] ‘this is a mental health patient with a machete’.” At the sentencing, the court heard that by January 2015, Palmer had boasted to mental health workers that he “would be on a pedestal, up with the big ones, everyone would look up to me, everyone would know me by name”.
Mr Wrighton’s injuries were so bad that police initially thought that he had been killed “by some sort of wild animal”.
The jury took only 49 minutes to reach a guilty verdict. After the sentencing at Nottingham Crown Court, Carol Todd, Mr Wrighton’s daughter, said: “The revelations of the evidence relating to the mental health of Alexander Palmer have shocked, astounded and angered us.
“We feel this should not have happened and mental health professionals failed him, his family and our family.”
The BBC has reported that the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS knew that Palmer had knives, but hoped that he would respond to treatment.
The trust told the broadcaster that an internal view would be launched and has offered support to Mr Wrighton’s family. It said that “it would be inappropriate to prejudge the findings of any review or to comment any further at this point”.
When sentencing the defendant, Mr Justice Goose, remarked: “Your offence was substantially aggravated in its seriousness, firstly by the fact that there was a significant degree of planning and of premeditation for this murder. Secondly, the victim was particularly vulnerable, being aged 83 and alone. Thirdly, by the extent of the savage violence you used to kill him.”