Nottingham to Southport and Beyond - Mental Health Assessment Problems

 Yesterday, in my home town of Southport, 7-year old Elsie Dot Stancombe was laid to rest. Elsie, as we know, was one of the three children who died during the mass stabbing at a Southport dance class on July 29th. Her two fellow murder victims, Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and six-year-old Bebe King, were buried earlier this month. Southport remains a town in mourning. The families of the murdered children will suffer the pain of bereavement for the rest of their lives; the children and adults who survived the attack will have memories that never cease to disturb them; Southport itself will never forget the collective trauma that struck on July 29th - and has remained. 

While we, rightly, focus upon the plight of the victims, I think it worth focussing for a moment upon the perpetrator of this hideous crime: Axel Rudacubana.  Since his arraignment on August 1st, we have heard little of him. This is to be expected, as the police have further inquiries to make and - of interest here - there will be a need for an intense psychiatric assessment. The assessment will determine whether or not Rudacubana has mental health issues that led him to kill, and, if so, he can claim diminished responsibility. Personally, I cannot see any other assessment being made, but it's not my decision. What may come to light are possible failings on the part of the mental health professionals who knew Rudacubana previously. As readers of this blog know, I have looked at many such cases in the past, and it's been the same old story of dangerous mental health patients being allowed out to walk the streets. They kill innocent people, there are inquests, the killers are sent to secure mental health institutions, the mental health mandarins say that "lessons have been learned" - and then it happens again. However, a recent such incident has aroused wider public attention...

On June 13th last year, the man in the photo, Valdo Calocane, killed three people - Barnaby Webber, Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates - and injured three others in Nottingham city centre. To the anger of the victims' relatives, who believed he should have been charged with murder, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility and was confined to hospital. However, this time the Care Quality Commission (CQC) took an active role. As the BBC say, the CQC report is damning: 

"In the lead-up to the attack, mental health assessments document how he often stopped taking his medication and was showing increasingly violent behaviour. But despite these red flags, the risks he posed were minimised and there was a "series of errors, omissions and misjudgements...".

The families of the victims say the failings highlighted in the report are much worse than they had anticipated. Highly articulate and outspoken, they have been told there will be a public inquiry.
At the centre of the criticism is the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT), which says it accepts the findings of the report and is working to improve its services. I have to say here that this is a familiar response from such bodies when these killings occur, but they seem to have little impact. For instance, on August 3rd, in West Ashby, not far from Nottingham, Christine Emmerson was stabbed to death by her son, Shaun Emmerson, a paranoid schizophrenic. As might be expected, as Lincolnshire Police say: 

"Crown Court Judge Simon Hirst, who presided over the trial, has placed an indefinite order with restriction for Emmerson to stay at a secure hospital for treatment until he is deemed fit to stand trial...  It was previously concluded that Emmerson was not fit to enter a plea and to stand trial in criminal proceedings due to a mental disability."

I predict that similar action will be taken in the case of Axel Rudacubana. Perhaps, also, he will be found guilty of manslaughter because of diminished responsibility and, to the chagrin of the families, the survivors and probably the whole of Southport and beyond, not guilty of murder.

Now, in many previous posts, lke the CQC with the Valdo Calocane case, I have criticised the mental health authorities. I stand by those criticisms, but must, in fairness, account for another factor: the fact that the mental health services are overstretched. As the BBC say: 

"The most up-to-date NHS figures, external show that in June this year 1.94 million people were in contact with mental health services in England – an increase of more than 30% in three years.
There are also significant staffing shortages. According to the King’s Fund think-tank, in September last year there were 28,600 staff vacancies in mental health - about 19% of the total workforce."

Faults in the system must be exposed, but we need to ensure that mental health staff - especially those who deal with cases like Calocane and Emmerson - are treated fairly. Otherwise, we might find that fewer and fewer people want to do the job and the situation will become far worse. 

Murder and Mob Violence: a Southport Tragedy With Consequences

 

My home town of Southport is in deep mourning and continuing shock. As everyone knows, one of the most horrific and murderous knife attacks in British criminal history happened last Monday, 29th of July. Again, as we know, a dance class for young children in Hart Street, Southport was attacked by a man wielding a knife. Three children were killed:  six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, aged nine. With respect, I post their photographs here.

Two adults and eight more children were hospitalised with stab wounds , although two have since left hospital. I don't live in Southport anymore, but, like other expat "Sandgrounders", I felt the shock and grief that swept the town and experienced the common feeling of bewilderment that such a horrible event could happen there. To see streets that I have known all my life on the TV swarming with police following such an evil event was truly disturbing. Even more disturbing was the fascist-inspired violence near the Southport mosque on Tuesday evening.  On Wednesday morning, I was faced with the fact that two topics that I cover regularly on this blog had dovetailed, with tragic consequences, in my home town. 

I have written numerous times over the years about random, unprovoked murders of innocent people by people with mental health issues. The murderer of the the three little girls, Axel Rudakubana of Banks, near Southport, reportedly suffers from autism. Now, this could point to an explanation, although I have been reminded that this has not been established yet as a cause. So, are autistic people violent? Well, the answer, for a minority, would appear to be Yes. In 2021, Autism Science and Research News asserted: 

"Aggression in autism can involve severe tantrums, anger, hostility, sudden-onset violent outbursts including self-harm and rage ‘episodes’. Up to 20% of individuals with autism exhibit such violent behaviours. In many cases, aggression involves destruction of property and direct violence towards other people including carers, causing them bodily harm."

Well, if this is correct, Rudakubana certainly belongs to the violent 20%. What we do not know, as yet, is the trigger that led him to take a taxi to the Hart Street Centre and slaughter so many innocent children. We may never know. However, my belief is that a familiar pattern will be followed: Rudakubana will plead guilty to manslaughter owing to diminished responsibility; he will spend years in a mental health institution, possibly Broadmoor; if he "responds well to treatment", he may well be released one day - and may kill again, as has happened before.

But there will be another reason for committing Rudakubana to a mental health facility. If he is found to be mentally competent, he will be sent to a regular prison, where he will be a marked man, as are all criminals who harm children. He will be lucky if he lives to be released. Few tears will be shed for him, whatever his mental health status.

Since the 1970s, I have monitored the activities of the extreme Right in the UK. During that time, we have seen the rise and demise of two populist Far Right Parties: the National Front (NF) and the British National Party (BNP). To cut a long story short, both these groups failed electorally, largely because both groupings had Nazi affiliations of varying degrees of involvement and because they lacked electoral appeal. Reform UK has noted the NF/BNP mistakes, and made a comparatively successful effort to present themselves as a credible party which espouses constitutional methods.

But - for the fascists and the "physical force" (thugs) element of the extreme Right, who prefer direct action, they have mainly been drawn in by the English Defence League (EDL). Now, the EDL, under the leadership of Tommy Robinson at its inception, denied any Nazi links when it began in 2009. Instead, it focussed at first upon attacking Islam and promoting Islamophobia. It fell into decline in 2013 -15, but the membership spread out into other violent groups, united and mobilised by social media. This conglomerate (for want of a better word) was behind the riot outside the Southport Mosque, seen above - and have continued to create mayhem in our towns and cities since.

Early reports said that the riot in Southport was caused entirely by outsiders, but, as I would have expected, some locals were involved. The Metro of August 1st highlighted the case of Brian Spencer, a painter and decorator from Southport, who joined in the confrontation by wiggling his hips towards the police lines. Until, as the Metro says:

 "...a brick launched from the rioters hits him straight in the back of head.
Another rebounds off the officer’s shields directly onto his chest, leaving him seemingly stunned as he begins to stagger away.
But it only gets worse for the rioter, as he walks away clutching his head in pain another brick lands straight in his groin area".

The excuse offered for Spencer by one of his friends was remarkable: 

"...Everyone knows Brian. He’s a bit of a party animal and I think he just got excited last night. His head will be hurting this morning.’'

Mr Spencer's head will recover; the families of the the three children who died have far worse pain which will never leave them. The children who were stabbed, but survived, have suffered an experience that no child should face, and will live with the trauma caused by that horrific attack for the rest of their lives. As a father of two, you would expect Spencer to have shown some respect for their feelings. Still, when it's party time...

Thankfully, the vast majority of Southport residents responded magnificently, as has been widely covered in the world's press. Especially deserving of praise are Leanne Lucas, the 35-year old Yoga teacher who tried to protect children by covering them with her own body, despite being stabbed herself; Jonathan Hayes, the businessman who went to help and was stabbed in the leg. Both are still in hospital. Then there were the police officers who tackled Rudakubana while he was still armed with a knife. Also - Joel Verite, who confronted Rudakubana and told SkyNews how he:

"... stopped to help at the scene of the Southport stabbings described "locking eyes" with the attacker and says seeing the injured children will "probably stay with me for the rest of my life".

If the stories of these heroes inspire you, then I suggest that you could nominate one, or more of them, for the Pride of Britain Awards. It is easily done, and, for those interested, click on THIS LINK and nominate a Southport hero -they deserve it.

To close this section, and as the radio reports on fascist riots in our cities, we might wonder what has happened to the EDL's "prince over the water" - Tommy Robinson. The Fash rioters still call out his name as they brick the police and make Nazi salutes. The Mirror reports that Robinson:

"... insists the far right is on the "verge of something massive" amid the UK riots - even though he appears to be sunning himself abroad.
The anti-Islam campaigner and activist, who was a political advisor to former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Gerard Batten, fled the country last month after allegedly committing "flagrant" contempt of court relating to a film played at a protest."

In this man's name, thugs are setting fire to buildings and terrorising peaceful communities as I type. This man who has a lurid criminal record and made himself a laughing stock in Canada, is still revered by the criminal hooligans rioting today, while he holidays in Cyprus. All Robinson has achieved is to make an exhibition of himself.

 Southport has been plagued by mental health issues: the hideous crimes of a psychopathic knife attacker and the violence of equally psychotic racist and fascist thugs. The malaise of rioting has spread across the country and besmirched our country's reputation here and abroad. Malaysia is now warning its citizens not to travel here. These so-called patriots have brought us into disrepute. 

As for the victims of Rudakubana, they deserve our maximum support, whether given directly by Southport residents or prayers in foreign lands. Last Monday, when I heard the news, possessed by powerful feelings, I wrote the poem below. I send my sympathy to all affected in Southport and all afflicted by fascist violence in our cities. This poem is for them.

THEY DANCE ON

 

King Herod came to Southport,

Though he bore another name.

With innocents to slaughter,

The outcome was the same.

 

Happy children dancing,

They hopped and bopped and twirled.

They did not know the stranger

Who came to end their world.

 

His taste was indiscriminate –

He struck both young and old.

And can we find a motive

In a heart so hard and cold?

 

And was there mental lightning

Or hardship in his past?

For the injured and their families,

He brought them pain to last.

 

For those who’ve passed the bounds of pain,

Those young lives that have gone,

Still loved, and unforgotten,

Somewhere, they dance on.