My schizophrenic son killed his father. We speak every day

Dan Harrison, who had schizophrenia and psychotic delusions about his parents, had been sectioned ten days before he attacked his father. He was detained at Neath Port Talbot Hospital, run by the Swansea Bay University Health Board.

During those ten days he received no treatment or medication. He escaped through a door being held open by a member of staff who was talking to someone else and immediately headed for the family home where he killed his father.

The attack came after Dan's mother, Jane, and her husband repeatedly asked for help from mental health services as their son’s state of mind and behaviour deteriorated. They were refused.

Last month Kirsten Heaven, assistant coroner for Swansea, recorded in a narrative verdict that there had been repeated failings by the Swansea University Health Board and local council. She said multiple system failures had contributed to Kim’s death and warned of more deaths if they were not addressed.

Jane is speaking out now, with her son’s permission, after a Sunday Times investigation highlighted the scale of mental health-related killings in Britain. There have been at least 233 reported since 2020 and there have been repeated warnings about NHS services failing to provide crisis care.

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Source: The Times, 1 June 2024