'Figures wrong on murders by the mentally ill'

Published on Sunday 28 February 2010 21:53

CAMPAIGNERS are today calling for authorities to stop playing down the scale of murders committed by mentally ill people as new research suggests official figures have not recorded the true extent of the problem.

Failure to address the issue properly could prevent lessons being learned, they said.

The research, for a BBC documentary, indicated there could be twice as many cases of people with mental health problems carrying out homicides than official statistics showed, as multiple victims and killers who committed suicide were not always included.

Film-maker Julian Hendy began studying mental health homicides in Britain after the murder of his father, Philip, 75, in 2007.

Professor Louis Appleby, of the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Health Problems, said about 50 people a year were convicted of homicide who had been in contact with mental health care in the previous year.