Inside Justice

Mental health ‘revolution’ would be a fitting memorial to Flack, writes Tom Wood

Now that the handwringing and finger pointing has started to abate, it’s perhaps time to take a considered look at the very sad death of the reality TV star Caroline Flack. What does it tell us about celebrity and the many-headed beasts that are domestic violence and mental health?

In the immediate aftermath of her death, much of the commentary was about the outrageous treatment she had received at the hands of some newspapers and internet trolls.

The suggestion was that the vitriol heaped on her following her arrest for assault was somehow a new phenomenon born of a new age of cruelty.

Sorry – her vilification may have been amplified by social media but her treatment was far from new. Anyone who has “enjoyed” a high profile in any area of public life knows that the only thing certain is that sooner or later you will become a target.

It’s as old as time – the Romans famously warned their conquering generals in their moment of triumph that “all triumph is fleeting”. It’s brutal but true, if you won’t or can’t take the rough with the smooth, then you should probably not seek celebrity.

The arrest and intended prosecution of Caroline Flack for an alleged assault on her partner also encouraged some commentators to criticise the Crown Prosecution Service and seemingly question whether the prosecution of a woman for assaulting a man should be treated the same as the assault by a man on a woman.

This seems to spring from the dogma that violence is fundamentally a male problem and that if females are perpetrators it is because they are mentally disturbed or have been provoked – the “he had it coming” defence.

In other words, it’s still all the fault of men. It’s nonsense, of course. The facts on the ground prove different. While the great majority (over 80 per cent) of victims of domestic violence are women and their assailants men, a sizeable minority (15-20 per cent) of victims are men and, no, they are not all in same sex relationships. They are in a minority, but there are violent women and the Crown Prosecution Service was absolutely right to follow the evidence and move towards a prosecution in the case of Flack. That’s the thing about equality – it’s a sharp, double-edged sword.

But the most important area of debate around this tragic case is the vexed question of mental health. It seems that hardly a week goes by without another human tragedy linked directly to the failure of our systems to identify and deliver effective mental health services where they are desperately needed. Whether it’s because we don’t have the services or simply do not recognise the signs and symptoms – Flack is yet another example of that failure.

So as the celeb circus leaves town in search of new victims, that’s the big learning point from Flack’s tragic death.

We cannot change human nature and protect fragile celebrity from the slings and arrows of spite and envy. Neither can our prosecution services select a biased equality setting when convenient – there is either equality under the law or there is not. But we can stop our incessant mithering about “the mental health crisis” and actually do something about it.

That would be the best memorial to Caroline Flack and the countless number of other anonymous souls, women and men, our folk, who take their own lives each year.

● Tom Wood is a writer and former deputy chief constable.