Plea and Case Management

Tomorrow, 17 November, at 9.45.am in Court 2 there will be a "plea and case management" hearing for John Churchill at the Old Bailey (Central Criminal Court) London EC4 - nearest tube is St Paul's, follow signs to Old Bailey. Map here .

This means that a plea will be entered by the accused and decisions made as to how the hearings will proceed.

John Churchill was arrested and charged with killing John McKenna in March this year, after he had gone to the police and confessed; he has been in custody awaiting trial since then. He is currently under Section 48 of the 1983 Mental Health Act in a Cambridge hospital.

(Section 48 - if the Secretary of State receives from two registered medical practitioners reports stating that the person detained in custody is suffering from a mental condition within the criteria of this Section, that person may be transferred from prison to a hospital for treatment.)

A few days before the homicide, Mr Churchill had been discharged as an inpatient of the Abraham Cowley Psychiatric Unit in Chertsey, and he was under the care of the Surrey & Borders Mental Health Health Partnership NHS Trust .

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Today, 16 November, the 400 page plus report of the independent inquiry into the killing of Denis Finnegan in September 2004 by John Barrett has been published. John Barrett is currently in Broadmoor Special Hospital. At the time of the homicide he was an inpatient of Springfield Hospital, run by South West London and St George's MentalHealth NHS Trust . The Trust's Executive Summary of the report (34 pages) is here .

The Guardian's story - Care flaws allowed schizophrenic to kill, report says .

Also today, we have the announcement of the amendments to the 1983 Mental Health Act which are concerned with the legislation to introduce more powers to detain patients.

The Mental Health Alliance has issued this statement today:

Mental Health Alliance response to publication of Barrett Inquiry report Commenting on the publication of the John Barrett Inquiry report, Mental Health Alliance Chair Andy Bell said:

"This Report demonstrates that what often lies behind the rare and tragic cases such as the murder of Denis Finnegan is that mental health services can fail those in their care and that there is no need for the Government to be granted broader powers of compulsory detaining people in the guise of protecting the public, as they are currently seeking with reform of mental health legislation. The answer lies in investing in better services, that give staff the support they need to do their job and are more responsive when patients say they need help. It is a hard truth that sometimes professionals make mistakes and no system in the world can prevent that happening in every instance."