Secret courts freeing mentally-ill killers could open up to victims

SECRET hearings that have freed mentally-ill killers could be opened up to victims under plans drawn up by ministers.

Justice ministers are proposing that victims of dangerous offenders detained in secure mental hospitals should have a greater say in determining whether they can be released back into the community. They want victims to be able to submit statements to mental health tribunals detailing the impact of the crime and why they believe the offender should remain in secure hospitals.

Campaigners say the tribunals currently deny victims a voice in determining offenders’ release, despite uncovering at least 30 cases where patients who previously committed serious crimes have been released by tribunals and gone on to kill others.

The move by the Ministry of Justice follows the controversy over Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane, who was detained in a high security hospital after prosecutors decided to accept his guilty plea to manslaughter owing to diminished responsibility.

Victoria Prentis, the Attorney General, has asked the court of appeal to determine whether his sentence is unduly lenient and should be toughened, so that he would be required to go to jail if he was ever released from the secure hospital. Calocane, 35, killed 19-year-old university students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’malley-kumar before targeting 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates in a series of violent attacks in Nottingham on June 13 last year.

Emma Webber, Barnaby’s mother, said: “The victim’s ‘voice’ is barely audible when it comes to the release of perpetrators of serious and vicious crimes that ‘escape’ penal custody and are given hospital orders. Up until now no consideration has been given for the victims to be heard. We would welcome the proposed change to include a victim’s statement. However the fact that the decisions and discussions to release would still be carried out behind closed doors is wrong. Victims are victims, and as such we must be given equal opportunity, as in the penal system.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “The Victims and Prisoners Bill will give a greater voice to all victims of crime, ensuring they are better protected and supported through the criminal justice system.”