After Nottingham

SIR – Will “lessons be learnt” from the shocking killings in Nottingham by Valdo Calocane, a mentally disturbed man (Letters, January 27)?

In the accounts of his contacts with mental-health services, the circumstances sound familiar: he was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, frequently declined to engage with mental-health professionals, was thought to use cannabis, and regularly refused to take his prescribed medication. Most crucially, he had a record of aggressive behaviour.

It is about time the public was protected from such individuals, by a system that ensures either that – at the very least – they take their medication every single day, or that they are confined to a mental hospital and not left at large in the community.

Michael Staples

Seaford, East Sussex

SIR – Those who are bereaved and traumatised by heinous crimes must be allowed to express their views on the circumstances leading to such acts (“‘Nottingham attacker wasn’t schizophrenic as he stabbed my sister to death’”, report, January 27).

However, most of those who suffer from serious mental-health problems are not dishevelled; they do their utmost to conceal their hallucinations and delusions from others; and, when commanded by voices, will carry out their instructions with careful planning. At its most extreme, mental illness can overwhelm pre-existing personality and personal values, judgment and capacity.

This is what I have learnt from working for 40 years in the field of mental health and caring for a close relative with serious mental-health challenges which have put him at grave risk.

Jeremy Walker

London WC1