NHS and police blamed for killing by psychiatric patient on conditional discharge

An independent inquiry commissioned by NHS England into the case of a psychiatric patient, previously committed for killing her mother, who killed another woman while on conditional discharge, has identified serious failings by the NHS and the Metropolitan Police.

The patient, Nicola Edgington, 36, was convicted in 2006 of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility in the death by stabbing of her mother, and she was sectioned as an inpatient at Bracton medium secure centre, run by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust. In 2009 she was conditionally discharged into supported accommodation in south London, a housing association flat without 24 hour support.

Several reports of threatening behaviour or of behaviours that the team had previously described as potential red flags arose over the next two years but did not trigger readmission. Her behaviour became increasingly erratic in …