LET PSYCHOPATH STAY AT THE HILTON, SAID SOCIAL WORKERS

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Sep 14, 1997 | by Ian Lauchlan

A psychopath has been told he can leave hospital any time he likes...even though doctors fear he may go on a rampage.

And social workers were so terrified at plans to let him go that they wanted to book him into a Hilton hotel because they thought he would be LESS dangerous there.

Trevor Daley, 33, who has a history of violent offences, appealed against being "sectioned" - legally ordered to reside in a psychiatric unit.

But the Mental Health Review Tribunal gave permission for the former Broadmoor patient to walk out of his ward at Central Middlesex Hospital, London, where he has been treated for the past four years.

Medics are terrified that he will lapse back into violence if he exercises his new legal right to quit the psychiatric ward. A source said: "This is a very difficult and dangerous man. He has had a crack cocaine addiction. If he starts using it again then he is likely to give up taking the medication that stops him becoming violent.

"He's had many stays in jails and secure hospitals throughout his life for GBH, sexual assault and robbery.

"And he's had a drug habit since his teens. There have been situations in the past where he has been discharged while he was well and soon after he's become ill and caused harm to others." Senior officials were so worried by the tribunal's decision they considered putting Daley in a local Hilton hotel.

They thought it would be safer than placing him in a hostel with other disturbed people. But the plan was abandoned because of the danger to Hilton staff.

So far Daley has agreed to continue residing in hospital. "He can take his medication, go out and come back at night," said a source. "But there's always the worry he won't come back." Michael Howlett, director of the Zito Trust, set up following the murder of Johnathan Zito by schizophrenic Christopher Clunis, said: "Many people who commit murder are troubled psychiatric patients who have not taken their pills."

A spokeswoman for the Mental Health Review Tribunal said: "If you want a comment you're on a hiding to nothing."

Brent Social Services claimed they had not planned to put Daley in a Hilton hotel.