Judge condemns lack of high-security hospital facilities
A judge in the North hit out at the authorities today over the lack of high-security hospital facilities for mentally ill prisoners facing trial in the province.
Mr Justice Stephens heavily criticised the fact there is no such provision as he sentenced a paranoid schizophrenic who decapitated his friend over a row about football to life in a secure medical unit in Scotland.
Mark Warwick, 43, killed and mutilated William McClatchey, 34, in a flat in east Belfast after the two spent the afternoon in a pub watching a Liverpool v Chelsea match.
Originally charged with murder, the Crown accepted Mr Warwick’s plea of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of impaired mental responsibility.
Imposing a discretionary life sentence on Warwick, to be served at the Carstairs high-security unit near Glasgow, Justice Stephens said the fact there was no similar facility in the North was a matter of considerable regret.
He said this made it more difficult to assess whether remand patients had dangerous personality disorders, and this could result in defendants being released into the community when they posed a serious risk.
The need for a unit in the North has been highlighted by psychiatrists for over 20 years and was again emphasised in the 2006 Bamford review of mental health provision, the judge said.
Justice Stephens said the current situation meant extremely ill patients were being left in prison without receiving the necessary specialist treatment.
William McClatchey’s dismembered body was found in a bin outside the Mount flats in east Belfast the day after he was killed in August 2007.
Originally from south Belfast, he had moved to Liverpool and was home on a short visit.
Imposing his sentence, Justice Stephens told Warwick his mental condition did not relieve him of all responsibility for his actions.
“Your responsibility is diminished though not extinguished,” he said.
