‘Appalling catalogue of errors’

9:50am Friday 24th November 2006

Comments (0)   Have your say »

For more than an hour, Putney killer John Barrett sat in Richmond Park, listening to whispering voices in his head telling him to "kill, kill", before he chose his victim.

That was 50-year-old cyclist Denis Finnegan, of Dryburgh Road, Putney.

He would later die at Charing Cross Hospital of multiple stab wounds inflicted by Barrett at 10am, on September 2, 2004.

Last Thursday, an independent report found Mr Finnegan would still be alive if not for terrible mistakes made by the South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, and one psychiatrist in particular.

The report is from an inquiry into the killing chaired by mental health lawyer Robert Robinson.

It described the level of care given to Barrett - whose violent history was well documented - as "inadequate".

Barrett pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The report described "systemic failures" on the trust's part.

After spells in care and in secure institutions, on his second stay at Springfield Hospital on August 31, 2004, he complained of having hallucinations and hearing voices.

At 11.40am on September 1, doctors told him he was too ill to leave and tried to move him to the secure Shaftesbury Clinic. Barrett became furious and refused.

Mr Robinson's report found that two hours later consultant psychiatrist Dr Gill Mezey made the "seriously flawed" decision to try and placate him by granting him an hour's leave in the grounds of the hospital.

He was let out at 3pm and immediately went to Homebase to buy three large kitchen knives.

At 7pm the police were finally called, but Barrett could not be found.

At 8am the next day, he set off for Richmond Park, finally arriving at the Kingston gate, where he took out the largest of the knives and began looking for a victim.

He later claimed he had decided not to kill a woman, child or elderly person and had picked out two other people before spotting Denis Finnegan.

The retired banker had been enjoying his morning cycle ride.

Unmarried Mr Finnegan had worked his way up from humble beginnings in Doncaster, where he grew up with his four brothers and two sisters, to live in his £500,000 Putney home.

But after a life of hard work he had decided to take a long break, and used his Royal Bank of Scotland redundancy payment to travel around America, Australia and New Zealand.

But not long after his return he was dead, because of a decision made at Springfield Hospital., the report said.

Mr Robinson said: "I was shocked by some of the findings. The management simply did not work and failed to provide the necessary checks."

Michael Howlett, from the mental health charity The Zito Trust, said the death was a result of an "appalling catalogue of errors".

St George's new chief executive Peter Houghton rejected the report's recommendation to close the Shaftesbury Clinic, but said: "The inquiry report contains difficult messages for the trust. We cannot undo what has happened in the past. But I would like to make it clear we are determined to do everything in our power to learn from the mistakes that were made."

Mr Finnegan's family welcomed the report and commended its honesty, but remain angry that those most to blame have had to pay few consequences.

The victim's sister, Tracy Kelly, 35, from Doncaster, said: "To lose someone you love in such a way is terrible. To know it was completely preventable is just unacceptable. It will be with us forever and I will not rest, none of us will rest, until we are completely satisfied with the end result."

And referring in particular to Dr Mezey and the trust's then chief executive Nigel Fisher, Mrs Kelly continued: "I want people to lose their jobs. They think they are untouchable - but we'll make sure they won't be."