Legal News

A new report published by Birmingham Cross City Clinical Commissioning Group has found that opportunities to provide more support to a mental health patient who stabbed a Birmingham schoolgirl to death were missed.

Philip Simelane was a former prisoner at HMP Hewell and is now detained in a secure unit, after admitting manslaughter with diminished responsibility for the death of 16-year-old Christina Edkins, whom he stabbed on a bus as she was making her way to school in March 2013.

Local publisher the Bromsgrove Standard reports that Simelane was detained at HMP Hewell in July 2012 for an unrelated offence and was under the care of Worcestershire Health and Care Trust, which diagnosed him with paranoid psychosis.

Simelane was transferred to the care of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust prior to his release in October 2012, but had not met the trust’s criteria for admission to a mental health hospital. The report says that Simelane underwent 17 assessments of his condition, including four assessments at HMP Hewell.

Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust prescribed anti-psychotic medicine and he was released on licence – but Simelane’s GP was not advised of his prescription or the fact he had been released from prison on licence, and no follow-up mental health care was organised.

However, between October 2012 and December 2012, Simelane served a further sentence at HMP Birmingham. It is reported that between his release and the killing of Christina Edkins, he may have been sleeping rough in Birmingham.

The report recommends that “robust” systems for monitoring prisoners with mental health conditions and follow-up care on their release are needed – including “assessing and communicating all known physical and mental health concerns at admission, transfer and release from prison”.

The report’s authors also recommend that a prisoner’s GP should receive a copy of their medical record on their release from prison.

It is also recommended that the trust should consider implementing an urgent psychological assessment under the Mental Health Act if staff have serious concerns about a prisoner’s mental health and wellbeing on release from prison.

The chief executive of Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, Sarah Dugan said:

“The trust has fully supported the review into the circumstances surrounding Christina's death.
“We are addressing the recommendations that have been made in relation to the services provided by the healthcare department at HMP Hewell in conjunction with the prison authorities.”

Chief executive of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Jason Short, said that the trust was already addressing some of the report’s recommendations and added:

“We fully accept the review's findings and acknowledge that we must learn from what happened.

“The review panel has confirmed Christina's death could not have been predicted – but it was preventable because, had there been intervention to address P's [Philip Simelane’s] mental health needs, there might have been a different outcome.”

Duncan Lewis Mental Health Solicitors

Duncan Lewis mental health solicitors are the UK’s largest provider of Legal Aid mental health services – and our mental health lawyers are available at short notice for appointments across England and Wales to advise on mental health law at hospitals, police stations and prisons.

Duncan Lewis mental health solicitors may also be able to advise the Nearest Relative or carer of a mental health patient in some cases – including advice on access to mental health services and how to initiate treatment reviews under the Mental Health Act.

For expert legal advice on mental health law, call the Duncan Lewis Mental Health Solicitors Helpline on 0203 114 1124.