Key workers lacked experience to deal with killer, inquiry concludes

BMJ 2009; 339 doi: 10.1136/bmj.b3648 (Published 7 September 2009)
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3648

Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment. Please log in or subscribe below.

  1. Clare Dyer
  1. 1BMJ

    A “systemic failure” allowed Peter Bryan, a dangerous, mentally ill killer who went on to kill two more people, to be supervised in the community by an inexperienced psychiatrist and social worker, an independent inquiry has concluded.

    Mr Bryan, who has schizophrenia and has since been given a diagnosis of a personality disorder, killed an acquaintance, Brian Cherry, in 2004 and then fried and ate part of his brain. Ten days after he had been detained in Broadmoor high security hospital for the killing, he attacked a fellow inmate, Richard Loudwell, who later died of his injuries.

    The reports of two separate inquiries into the two incidents, carried out for the strategic health authority NHS London, found a catalogue of failings in …

    Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment

    Article access

    Article access for 1 day

    Purchase this article for £20 $30 €32*

    The PDF version can be downloaded as your personal record

    * Prices do not include VAT

    THIS WEEK'S POLL