Coroner seeks checks on mentally ill after lecturer’s killing
THE coroner at the inquest of a university lecturer killed by a schizophrenic knifeman said that dangerous psychiatric patients should be more closely monitored, as current procedures are “insufficiently robust”.
Daniel Young, 30, died in January 2016 after being ambushed by Mark Loveridge, 39, as he walked towards Morden Tube station.
The attacker, who had been treated for mental illness for 18 years, had stopped collecting his medicine and was i n s te a d s e l f-med i c a t i n g wi t h cocaine and amphetamines.
His family today called on the NHS to adopt stricter measures to ensure that patients with psychotic pasts pick up their prescriptions.
Coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe will write to Simon Stevens, the head of NHS England, backing a “simple and robust” policy of checking whether patients are collecting their medication.
The scheme was devised by Loveridge’s former GP Naem Khan.
Mr Young’s mother Julie welcomed the coroner’s recommendations but described the findings as “heartbreaking”. She told the Standard: “Had policies been followed more stringently, and had a follow-up to check prescription pick-ups been in place, my son may not have lost his life so needlessly.
“We have to live with this heartbreak and loss forever but can only hope that suitable procedures are put in place to help stop this happening again.”
Loveridge, now detained at Broadmoor hospital, had been released from psychiatric care months before the attack. On the day of the stabbing, Loveridge lay in wait and launched at Mr Young as he travelled to work at Coventry University’s London campus.
Half an hour before, Loveridge had stabbed another stranger.
The former gang member has convictions dating back to 1994 for attacking strangers with knives and iron bars, as well as drugs offences. He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to manslaughter by diminished responsibility, and was sentenced to life in prison with a 15-year minimum term.
Mr Young died from shock and haemorrhage caused by a single stab wound to the abdomen.