convicted killer escapes from secure psychiatric unit .

On-the-run killer is found dead

A convicted killer who escaped from a secure mental hospital in south London has died after being hit by a train.

Paul Caesar absconded from Springfield Hospital in Tooting on Tuesday morning, having been held there for 11 years.

The 37-year-old had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1997, after killing a man in Battersea, south London.

Caesar died at Balham railway station, south London, two hours after going missing. British Transport Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.

His remains could not be identified after being hit by the train.

They were taken to a centre in north-west London, where a forensic examination confirmed the body was his.

Caesar had failed to return after spending time unescorted in the hospital grounds on Tuesday morning and people were warned not to approach him.

The hospital does some great work but events such as this, which appear to be becoming more frequent, undo a lot of the goodwill that has been built up among local residents
Sadiq Khan
Labour MP for Tooting

Judy Wilson, interim chief executive of South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, said an inquiry into the escape was under way.

"The trust is committed to learning all that it can from this serious incident and will be conducting a full investigation," she said.

In October 1997, Caesar was charged with murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter at Inner London Crown Court.

He was sectioned under the Mental Health Act for an indefinite period.


Sourced from BBC News.co.uk

This really gives mental health hospitals a bad name. The questions that need to be asked are
why give unsescorted leave to a patient who may be suicidal?
Should a convicted killer be given unescorted leave?
Springfields Hospital have had similar bad publicity regarding escaped patients-why are lessons never learned?

forgot the link -doh!



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