How killings by mentally ill ‘are swept under carpet’

THE number of killings by people with mental health problems is being ‘seriously underplayed’ by Governmentcommissioned researchers.

A third of cases are being excluded from reports used by Ministers deciding how to deal with schizophrenics and others with potentially dangerous conditions, according to a charity that helps families of victims.

The most recent annual report by the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness (NCISH) fails to include dozens of victims because the perpetrators were not seen by mental health specialists in the year leading up to the killings, campaigners say.

Last night, Julian Hendy, founder of bereavement charity Hundred Families, called for such killings to be included in future NCISH annual reports.

He also accused NCISH researchers of playing down the number of killings as they feared stigmatising the mentally ill. ‘It is a serious disservice to brush this issue under the carpet, which is what they are trying to do,’ he said. ‘If you don’t know the scale of the problem, how are you going to tackle it?’

But lead researcher Professor Louis Appleby, of the Centre for Mental Health and Safety at Manchester University, said: ‘It is misleading and cruel to suggest to bereaved families that their loved ones are not counted in what Hundred Families wrongly call “official” statistics.’

He said NCISH published ‘additional figures’ for homicides by mentally ill people who had not been seen by mental health specialists in the previous 12 months.

But the last time NCISH’s report contained the more complete figures was in 2013. Then, it estimated that – on average – 123 people annually die at the hands of the mentally ill across the UK.

Since then, NCISH’s reports have focused on ‘patient homicides’ – killings by those known to have been patients of specialist mental health services in the previous year. Consequently, its 2016 report stated there were ‘an average of 63’ victims a year in England, 14 in Scotland, four in Wales and two in Northern Ireland – 83 in total.

A spokesman for Westminster’s Department of Health said: ‘Our investment in mental health is a decisive first step, but we are determined do more and will be outlining further measures in due course.’

‘It is a serious disservice to the victims’