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00:11Certain crimes always make the headlines. Public interest grabbed by what's shocking
00:17and disturbing. When he stabbed her more than a hundred times. This was a fatal attack of a
00:24ferocious nature committed on a defenseless man. He replied, I'm so sorry for that. It
00:29should not have happened. Until cases in court tried to make sense of what seemed inexplicable.
00:36Her son was arrested and later pleaded not guilty to her murder by reason of insanity.
00:42He was incapable of understanding or controlling his actions on the night or refraining from killing
00:47his mother. Crimes that bring into focus the critical role of the central mental hospital.
00:53She had a diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder with symptoms of mania, depression and psychosis.
00:59The expert psychiatrists are in agreement that the boy's mother was suffering from a mental
01:04disorder. He was sent back to the central mental hospital. And what the mental health system
01:10could have done before these crimes were committed. The warning signals were ignored. And four
01:16months later Jimmy was killed. This was a preventable death. And it's traumatising. Really traumatising.
01:33In 1850, Ireland led the Western world and opened the first secure hospital for people who committed
01:40crimes while deemed to be insane. Such prisoners were reclassified as patients in what ultimately became
01:48the central mental hospital, Dundrum. And for 170 years, what it did, and how it looked, barely changed.
01:59It was an exceptionally old building. It was on very nice grounds. But the facilities inside the hospital
02:06itself for the patients were very poor indeed. Things like insulation, plumbing, you know, and the basic
02:14dignities were almost impossible to ensure in parts of the hospital.
02:18It was unusual for cameras to get inside. This video diary was shot by Dr. Brendan O'Reilly
02:26for a short documentary in 1996.
02:30It has to be acknowledged, this is by no means the worst place that I'm aware of in Dublin, let
02:37alone the country
02:37where people are held. This is a gentleman who likes movie stars and famous people. There's a group called Take
02:50That.
02:53I started there in 2000. I remember it as being a very kind place and there was a lot of
02:59compassion and caring
03:02in it. What was apparent though, a lot of the people that were in the hospital were people who'd been
03:07there
03:07for decades. You know, you were wondering why is somebody still in such a place after 40 years
03:12as someone had been? Some you'd wonder, why are they here at all?
03:18Changing policy and the deterioration of the old building led to Dundrum's closure in 2022.
03:29Moving to the seaside in Portran, North County Dublin, on the vast grounds of the old St.
03:35Edith's Mental Asylum, almost a quarter of a billion euro was spent developing the new Central Mental Hospital.
03:41It's modern, it's got individual rooms, it's got adequate space, it's got places to deliver therapies.
03:50You know, it just, it looks like a modern hospital healthcare setting.
03:57You know, this is what a hospital should look like.
04:01Despite years of delays, it stands as the headquarters of the National Forensic Mental Health Service
04:07and the biggest single investment arising from a vision for change, the blueprint for the state's
04:14progressive reform of mental health.
04:17We're here in Portran with the new National Forensic Mental Health Service.
04:21It's the first of its kind in Ireland. It's been recognised as one of the most progressive
04:25facilities anywhere in Europe.
04:27But more than three years later, all is not as it seems.
04:32Today, one third of the 170 beds in the new CMH have never been opened.
04:38Two intensive care rehabilitation units and a child and adolescent unit have never been brought into use.
04:45And while 50 beds in here lie empty, more than 30 acute psychiatric patients around the country
04:52are on a waiting list to be admitted.
04:55When they were coming up with their plans for the new set of services, that capacity was going to be
04:59a big issue
05:00and that what was proposed and what has been delivered was never going to meet the demands across the prison
05:04system.
05:07But calling it a waiting list is not telling the full story.
05:11Each of the men on the list was sick enough to require admission to the hospital.
05:15But, according to a recent snapshot, they were instead locked up in prisons like Clover Hill, Cork, Castle Rea, the
05:24Midlands and Mount Joy.
05:26Kept on prison landings where the law prevents psychiatrists from providing the same type of anti-psychotic health care
05:34as they would get in a hospital.
05:41Last night, we saw what impact jailing the mentally ill had on patients and their families.
05:48He didn't get a life.
05:52Just didn't get a life.
05:54There was no help.
05:55There is no help.
05:57And he got help most of the time.
05:59But, unfortunately, when he really needed it, he didn't get it.
06:04Now, others experiencing the same sort of heartache are asking, has anything changed?
06:11So, we have a state-of-the-art central mental hospital that opened fairly recently.
06:17You know, to replace something that was, you know, seen as dilapidated, not fit for purpose.
06:23And then you have people in inadequate conditions and unacceptable conditions in prison, very often,
06:31who require those beds that are lying empty out in Portrion.
06:36Some people with brain injuries and dementias, their ability to look after themselves can be very, very poor.
06:42These people need to be in hospital, not in prison.
06:45Pressure from the Council of Europe's Committee on the Prevention of Torture, or CPT,
06:51was considered instrumental in advocating for the closure of Dundrum and moving to Portrion.
06:57Last year, its first visitation report of the new facility was published.
07:02It was far from glowing and was especially critical that the support network,
07:07a key part of the original Vision for Change plan, never materialised.
07:11The general environment is far better.
07:15However, the problems as were at Dundrum have simply been transferred in large part to Portrion
07:23because there's an absolute lack of step-down facilities in the community.
07:30In a statement RTE Investigates, the HSC said there will be a phased expansion of the unopened intensive care beds,
07:38and once this is done, policy plans under sharing the vision should be prioritised to expand to other locations.
07:47Regardless of their illness, psychiatric patients waiting in prisons are subject to criminal law.
07:53Usually they are on remand as they are too sick for their cases to progress.
07:58This means fortnightly appearances in criminal courts for judges to hear updates, usually on their mental state.
08:07As was the case we followed in Waterford Circuit Court.
08:11A man diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic 20 years ago appeared by video link from Cork Prison.
08:18The man was facing two relatively minor criminal charges.
08:22A forensic psychiatrist has told the court that he is not fit to be tried, that he is locked up
08:28on his own almost all day.
08:29He's been assaulted in prison and he is in urgent need of psychiatric care.
08:37Going to prison is traumatic for anyone who walks through those prison gates.
08:42But for people who are experiencing severe mental health issues, they should not be there in the first place.
08:47Held on remand in Cork Prison, this case returned repeatedly to court by video link.
08:54We watched the man shouting incoherently.
08:57Other times he was silent and subdued.
08:59A paranoid schizophrenic, on 23-hour lock-up, he spent a full year on the waiting list
09:05before a bed was finally found for him in Portran.
09:09The prioritisation for transfer to the Central Mental Hospital is based on the severity of the symptoms
09:15that people are exhibiting that has absolutely nothing to do with a crime.
09:22He is not alone.
09:23By late last year, men on the waiting list for the CMH had already spent an average of six months
09:29in custody.
09:31You can find prisoner patients who languish in prison for many months,
09:35exhibiting clear symptoms of psychosis or other acute mental illness,
09:41and who remain on the waiting list for the CMH throughout that entire time
09:47and may even be released from prison before they ever receive any effective therapeutic intervention.
09:56We found one case where a man has spent almost two years in prison,
10:01waiting for a bed in Portran to open up.
10:04The same waiting game plays out around the country virtually every day.
10:09We attended Clover Hill District Court in West Dublin.
10:12On a morning, the fate of four prisoners awaiting transfer to Portran was up for the decision.
10:20So you have this ridiculous, slightly perverse situation where these cases are very often adjourned
10:27for weeks and even months on end, awaiting for the HSE to say, OK, we've got a bed now.
10:34Inside the court, Judge Alan Mitchell heard the CMH did not have enough beds for all four men present.
10:40He asked a solicitor for the HSE, what am I supposed to do?
10:45Throw four names into a hat?
10:46Everybody is frustrated because most people realise that these are individuals who need assistance.
10:53They need to be in the CMH, they need treatment.
10:57The issue was partly resolved when the HSE told the court it had two beds available in Portran.
11:03The other two prisoners would have to wait.
11:07Today was a good morning.
11:08We have a number of people who are going to be getting into hospital today.
11:13It's like a miracle.
11:14They managed to find two beds for these two gentlemen, which, look, it is great news all round.
11:20But unfortunately, it doesn't happen enough.
11:26Continually short-staffed and with parts of the complex still unopened, the CMH has drawn strong criticism from external inspectors,
11:34both home and abroad.
11:36The Mental Health Commission found the CMH had the worst rate of regulatory non-compliance among the 65 inpatient mental
11:44health facilities it inspects.
11:47In reports since the hospital opened in 2022, the Commission has found a concerning upward trajectory of non-compliance with
11:56regulatory standards.
11:57Repeated breaches gave rise to serious concern regarding the operation of the centre, particularly because of the increase in issues
12:06of a high risk and critical risk.
12:09That issue, branded a critical risk, was in the key area of how the CMH keeps patients in seclusion.
12:17In other words, solitary confinement, which is where this story takes us.
12:24You can't imagine what I think is heartbreak, absolutely heartbreak, to think of him like it.
12:32To be left there like that is absolutely dreadful.
12:51Jacinta Graham's world changed completely 12 years ago when her son Stephen suffered a brain injury.
12:59He was the surviving passenger of a fatal road accident outside Ross Grey, County Tipperary.
13:07A 16-year-old boy who was a passenger in the car was seriously injured when it hit a wall
13:11on the Burr Road shortly before 2 o'clock this morning.
13:15Despite multiple fractures, it seemed like a miraculous escape.
13:19But the accident changed Stephen's life entirely.
13:22The symptoms of a serious brain injury slowly emerging.
13:27We, like, as a family, we could see that he was a little bit forgetful.
13:31He was walking different.
13:33His personality changed a good bit as well, whereas he was funny, bubbly.
13:39You know, he was very kind and generous, where he was just snapping and agitated and becoming aggressive.
13:47The first serious incident happened following a Halloween disco.
13:51Stephen was 17.
13:53That was the first violent episode I can remember.
13:57I had to run away from him.
13:58He went to the drawer.
13:59He turned up the tables.
14:00He turned up everything inside the house.
14:03And he went to the drawer, took out a knife and said he was going to kill me.
14:08So I ran out the door, the front door, and I stood up again and walked, thinking he'd run out
14:13past me.
14:15But he didn't.
14:16He came out and he grabbed me and knocked me onto the ground.
14:18And if my mother hadn't been there, I don't know what would happen.
14:28A year after the crash, Stephen was formally diagnosed with a brain injury.
14:33The psychiatric hospital in Ennis couldn't contain him.
14:37While at home, his behaviour became more erratic.
14:41Most times, like, I tried to talk to him, calm him down.
14:45And, you know, he didn't always, like, physically hit me, but he could be roaring and shouting.
14:51I didn't want him going to jail or prison.
14:53I was trying to explain, it's help he needs, it's not punishment.
14:57And it feels like I got here, I'm just supposed to love you.
15:04We were all, obviously, grieving as well, because that wasn't my brother.
15:07That's not who he was, you know.
15:10And to try and help him, and he just, you might as well be trying to help him, talking to
15:19the table.
15:19Well, you know, it's just going in one ear and out the other.
15:24It just, there was no helping him.
15:26There was no, we didn't know what to do.
15:30Our Stephen died in the accident.
15:33Someone else came back.
15:35In the midst of his worst delusions, he believed he was an animal and lived outdoors, often barefooted, regardless of
15:43the weather.
15:44The guard gave him a tent, and each evening I'd bring him blankets and coats, because he didn't want to
15:52come home then, himself.
15:54Jacinta was torn between caring for her son and protecting everybody else in the house.
16:01This is where he had stuck a note to the door, went the night he ran away, and wrote that.
16:07Please read, love you all, Stephen looking at him.
16:09And the note was literally pinned here, saying that he was leaving and he was never coming back.
16:15The downstairs doors with the panels, they were the ones, like, when I'd lock myself in, he'd be kicking and
16:20punching at them.
16:22Talking to himself in the mirror, growling.
16:25He'd come to the door, he'd tell me he's going to burn the house down around me.
16:29The guard that he advised Jacinta to take out a barring order.
16:33To keep Stephen out of house, which in my view was, like, a nightmare.
16:38I didn't want to have to put him out.
16:43One evening, Stephen knocked his mother unconscious, so began a sequence of events that saw him remanded to Limerick Prison.
16:55Her son, who spent four and a half months in jail, because we could not find, as a state, a
17:02place for him in a secure mental health unit.
17:04This is a real serious issue.
17:07We haven't enough places.
17:10The political pleas fell on deaf ears.
17:13Hospitals refused to take Stephen.
17:16A few hours ago, he was sent back to jail.
17:18That'll be nine months, very young man with very severe psychotic mental health illnesses who should be in a secure
17:24unit.
17:24He spent another eight months locked up on his own in Limerick Prison.
17:28Stephen has been in custody without a trial or a sentence since those court proceedings in 2021.
17:36Legally in limbo, he has been placed in long-term solitary confinement, the way many difficult or violent patients are
17:44managed.
17:45Prison is the opposite of rehabilitative for people with mental illness.
17:49When a family member whom they love very dearly is clearly ill, and perhaps with that, is violent or threatening.
17:56Well, actually, I think many Irish people appreciate that it could be their cousin or their son or their mother
18:06that could end up in that situation.
18:08And even if you don't care about that, it's hardly likely that if they're kept for months on end, for
18:1822 or 23 hours a day in inhuman and degrading conditions,
18:22that when they're released back into the community, that they will be better people.
18:28In 2022, a place was eventually found in the old Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, where again, Stephen was placed
18:37in seclusion.
18:38He'd be in, like, the cage around the next to the room he was in, in there, and we talked
18:47to him through the fence like that he was in behind.
18:51Yeah, no, it was absolutely horrible, yeah.
18:53I really wanted to just bring him home with me every time, you know.
18:57But, yeah, just, yeah.
19:03In November 2022, patients, including Stephen Loughnan, moved from Dundrum to the new hospital in Portran.
19:12According to the Mental Health Commission, seclusion rules in this country are designed with a maximum period of 72 hours
19:20in mind.
19:21By the end of 2024, however, Stephen had been in seclusion continuously for 20,880 hours.
19:30We showed these figures to Dr. Charles O'Mahony.
19:34Just here, the last line in that.
19:36The longest episode of exclusion, personal seclusion, is, is that hours?
19:42Yeah.
19:43Oh, God, yeah.
19:47Yeah, that's a huge amount of hours.
19:50If you lock anybody in a room for a certain length of time and disclose them from everything, obviously they're
19:56going to go mad.
19:58Do you know, if you put a dog into a cage and left him in the cage and didn't let
20:02him out, the dog will get aggressive.
20:05It'll end up biting you.
20:08In a statement, the HSE said the use of restrictive practices in Irish mental health centres has fallen to a
20:15record low following the introduction of new human rights-based rules.
20:20And it has.
20:21The use of seclusion or solitary confinement has fallen significantly in recent years across Irish mental health facilities.
20:30However, its application in Portran is actually increasing, something that concerned the Committee for the Prevention of Torture on its
20:39last inspection.
20:40It appeared that the period of time for which the seclusion was applied was longer than necessary.
20:53No one deserves to be locked in a room like that.
20:57It's like going to visit Hannibal Lecter in the movie Silence of the Lambs.
21:02Him behind the screen with the glass and talking through a speaker.
21:10You know, that's the only way I can describe it.
21:14And absolutely nothing in the room.
21:17Not a thing, no, nothing.
21:19And it plays on my mind then, thinking about all the minutes of every day.
21:25Walking around in that room with not knowing the floor was to look at.
21:31And it's come up to nearly five years he's there now.
21:3624 hours in a day.
21:39Every day, every day for the last five years nearly.
21:43And it's, you can't imagine what I think is heartbreak, absolutely heartbreak to think of him like it.
21:52To be left there like that is absolutely dreadful.
22:06In fact, the use of seclusion at Portran was one of a large number of non-compliance issues
22:12highlighted in the most recent report of the Inspector of Mental Health Services.
22:17It was the only area given a risk rating of critical and triggered an immediate action notice.
22:25It should be a last resort that a use of seclusion should be seen as a learning opportunity
22:32and to understand how they can avoid seclusion in the future.
22:37Stephen Loughnown's detention also highlights a serious anomaly within the criminal justice system.
22:4323-hour seclusion is commonly used in Irish jails, often for prisoners who are mentally ill.
22:50But prisons are considered outside the remit of the Mental Health Commission.
22:56There's significant human rights issues at stake here and significant gaps in terms of regulation and oversight.
23:03And it's clear that there is a massive gap between the standards that the Mental Health Commission inspects against
23:11and what happens in the prison.
23:14But shortcomings within the CMH and in prisons are not simply because these places have failed.
23:21They have often been left to deal with a problem other agencies will not or cannot handle.
23:27As is clearly the case with Leon Wright, a 37-year-old Dubliner who is no stranger to headlines.
23:35Leon Wright has more than 120 convictions.
23:38Placed in foster care at the age of three, he has spent most of his life in care or in
23:44custody,
23:45having seriously assaulted prison officers, Gardaà and members of the public.
23:50He is currently a high-security inmate in the Midlands Prison.
23:54He's been profiled negatively in the press for a very long time.
23:59He has no question about it.
24:00He has a considerable criminal record with issues in prison.
24:04So it's well known.
24:06The issue that is not that well known is that he has a diagnosis of a very serious mental illness.
24:12On the rare occasions when he got out of prison, how he spent time was deemed newsworthy.
24:18So in prison, he got the diagnosis of schizophrenia in 2017.
24:24He was been treated by the team and he was seen by a psychiatrist once every fortnight,
24:29by a psychologist once every week and he was on a range of medication.
24:34He responded well to treatment.
24:36When he was released from prison in 2019, a detailed report went with him, highlighting the progress he had made.
24:45On release, however, the HSE Community Mental Health Service refused to take him on, citing fears for staff safety.
24:53He recognises that in order for him to live in the community, he will need mental health professionals to provide
25:00care for him,
25:02to supervise his medication and to assist him.
25:05Those who worked with Leon advocated strongly on his behalf.
25:10And in fact, when the consultant who was looking after Leon in prison wanted to do the handover to the
25:17community health care team in the area where he lived,
25:21they refused to take him on.
25:22And so all of these supports were there, except for the community mental health care.
25:27The HSE are saying to him, basically, the only place where you're going to get mental health care is in
25:33the prison.
25:34In October 2021, the director of the probation service wrote to the then chief executive of the HSE, Paul Reid,
25:43and said it was completely unsatisfactory that after two years, access to appropriate community-based treatment continues to be denied
25:52to Mr. Wright.
25:53He said he had grave concerns for Mr. Wright's ongoing welfare.
25:58And if his treatment needs go unattended, this poses significant risks for himself, probation staff, and the wider community.
26:07In fact, the case went to the High Court and then the Court of Appeal to try to ensure the
26:13HSE would provide monthly injections for his psychosis.
26:17Instead, he relied on a friend, untrained in medicine, to administer the injections.
26:23He lost his case, ultimately at the Court of Appeal, on the grounds that a court cannot dictate what the
26:30state must do.
26:31In one sense, it's quite shocking that the state would spend hundreds of thousands of euros in defending this litigation
26:37for the High Court and then the Court of Appeal,
26:40rather than using those resources to provide the mental health support that that person needed for their recovery.
26:48We could not interview Leon Wright because he is presently serving time.
26:53But in court files prior to his recent sentence, he revealed clear insights about his condition.
27:01I appreciate that many patients with schizophrenia do not commit crime or engage in violent or antisocial behaviour.
27:07Unfortunately, I am not one of them.
27:10Schizophrenia is a very serious mental illness and I will never be cured by simply taking medication.
27:16I require intervention in the form of cognitive behaviour therapy on an ongoing basis.
27:23After spending two years without attracting Garda attention, his life started to unravel in 2021.
27:30He reported hearing voices, a symptom of psychosis, but was unable to access treatment.
27:37His mental health state was slipping and he started reusing drugs.
27:42He asked to be admitted to the mental health care unit on a voluntary basis and was refused.
27:50So he was referred to the mental health care unit by a Garda doctor, by his own doctor, by a
27:57friend.
27:58And indeed, he was referred to by a consultant psychiatrist from the CMH.
28:04He said that his mental health is so poor now that he needs to be admitted and he was refused.
28:15In February 2025, after his longest spell of freedom in his adult life, he robbed three stores in Ballymun during
28:23a psychotic episode.
28:25He brandished a knife and was involved in a two and a half hour violent standoff before being arrested by
28:32the Garda Armed Response Unit.
28:34There's no question.
28:35Caused harm to other people, caused harm to himself, caused harm to people who are close to him.
28:40There's no question that he accepts responsibility for that.
28:43There's two parts of his life.
28:45One which he was out of control and one which he was stable.
28:50He has a very serious mental illness, which is manageable.
28:54It can be managed.
28:56It can't be cured.
29:02His case went to court amid high security.
29:05Today, Leon Wright was at the Criminal Courts of Justice, where he was told he will serve six and a
29:10half years in prison.
29:12However, during his sentencing hearing, Judge Patricia Ryan heard lengthy evidence of mitigation.
29:17This revealed the efforts he had gone to to get mental health treatment from the HSE before his latest crimes,
29:25including a failed high court attempt to access psychiatric care in the community.
29:32He was returned to Midlands Prison to a purpose-built facility for violent offenders.
29:38The National Violence Reduction Unit is meant to be a psychology-led service.
29:45And our headline finding during the inspection was that the primary focus was on security and containment.
29:53So I think at the time that we were in the NVRU, only around half of the people who were
30:01being held there had any engagement with psychology services.
30:05And the other 50% were effectively left to their own devices.
30:11Leon Wright spends most of his time at the unit in solitary confinement.
30:16I do not wish to be alarmist. I am simply making the point that psychiatric hospitals are full of persons
30:22who have committed the most serious crimes
30:24after they have been refused any help with their mental health crisis.
30:28I do not wish or intend to be such a person, and I'm hopeful that one day I will manage
30:33to be a productive member of society.
30:37He won't be released until 2029, given the fact that the HSE effectively were saying to him,
30:44the only place that you'll get mental health care is in prison.
30:48Then you'd have to wonder, or he has to wonder, what's going to happen?
31:10We're going to see Stephen today. We only get the hour.
31:14And, like, this time now, when I go, like, he's not in the seclusion.
31:18I imagine now they have moved into a new area, so I'm looking forward now to see his new place.
31:25You know, he seems to be getting on really well there.
31:32Late last year, just one month shy of his third year in the same seclusion room, Stephen was moved to
31:39a bigger space.
31:40It's a temporary move that offers him a tiny sliver of independence he has been denied since going into custody
31:47five years ago.
31:49The last time he rang me, it was kind of a bit, you know, to go, and then he rings
31:55me back,
31:56oh, I'm sorry, all I want to know is if you're coming to see me.
31:59I said, yes, I said, I'm coming to see you. I said, I'll be up.
32:03I said, well, that's all I need to know then, go on.
32:06He hangs up to one.
32:09So I am, I'm looking forward to seeing him.
32:12Yeah.
32:22Today's visit to Port Rann is the first time they've seen him in months.
32:26It's a big day, but what worries them is the possibility that Stephen might be sent to the UK for
32:32treatment.
32:34They were getting St Andrews in the UK to come and assess him
32:38because they seemingly have more expertise in dealing with people like Stephen and the injury that he has.
32:46If he goes over to England, like, my concern would be that we'd have no contact.
32:51And they'd know we're still here and we're still his family and we love him dearly.
33:17Greg, it was a really, really good visit. I couldn't believe it. He looks so well.
33:22Yeah, he really looks so well, doesn't he?
33:25Yeah, he does. He's after putting on a bit of weight.
33:28It was really, really relaxed. It was a better kind of environment.
33:32It was more open.
33:34You see, the minute you walk in the door, you'd know about his face.
33:37You know, he was smiling when we walked in.
33:39So we knew there and then, well, I knew there and then that would be a good visit, you know.
33:44He's not locked away.
33:46He's able to move around freely.
33:49Like that, he's been treated like a human.
33:52He's given that back.
33:55That was all taken away from him in isolation for five years.
33:58And do you know what?
33:59It's really, really sad coming away from him knowing that, you know.
34:03He's not going to be with us for Christmas.
34:05We can't spend Christmas together or, you know, do normal things.
34:08So maybe this is a step in the right direction where he's actually going to be treated and cared for
34:14properly.
34:15Not that he wasn't previously, but, you know, it's a step in the right direction.
34:35With more than 30 people in prison because there is no room at the Central Mental Hospital,
34:40it falls to community mental health teams to bridge a big gap in our psychiatric services.
34:46There's a long waiting list to get into Portran, but when is it appropriate to release a psychiatric patient from
34:53there?
34:54Two Sligo families brought together by unspeakable tragedy are now asking the same question.
35:01Two unconnected killings, less than three years apart, were both committed by recent patients of Sligo's community mental health service.
35:10The first claimed the life of 23-year-old Natalie McGuinness in October 2015.
35:18It was shortly after 10.30 this morning when Gardaà were alerted to a violent altercation in a block of
35:24flats on Mailcoach Road,
35:26less than a kilometre from the city centre.
35:28Her killer was not a stranger.
35:30He was a friend, OisÃn Conroy, who was charged with her murder.
35:35Shortly before 10 o'clock this morning, OisÃn Conroy was brought into Sligo District Court amid tight security.
35:42He wore a hoodie and tracksuit bottoms and his head was heavily bandaged.
35:48She was a New Year's baby. She was one of the first babies born in Limerick.
35:52She was in the paper coming into the world. She was in the paper going out of the world for
35:56two separate different reasons, you know.
35:59For the past 10 years, her sister Jodie has avoided passing the house where Natalie lost her life.
36:07It's deeply traumatising, to be honest, to know that that's where that her life ended.
36:13Just a random house and random street, you know.
36:19It wasn't just the perpetrator's fault.
36:23There was services and public bodies organised.
36:27And in dealing with the patient beforehand, I'm going to keep going until I find out what did happen.
36:49The second killing occurred, a stone's throw away, off Connolly Street in late February 2018.
36:5620-year-old Jimmy Lachlan was at his rented home alone when a stranger burst through his door with a
37:03crowbar.
37:05The detective came up to us and said, they're working on him, they're working on him, just leave it with
37:10us.
37:10So he said, well, we'll go to the hospital.
37:12And then Detective Raymond Doric, who was the chap who said, well, they're working on him,
37:18came in and said, really sorry, but Jimmy's dead.
37:26And that was it.
37:36Richard McLachlan was brought before Donegal Town District Court this morning.
37:40Barrister Keith O'Grady said, urgent psychiatric evaluation was warranted in this case.
37:50I don't know, I just can't explain it, you're just in a different world, to be honest.
37:55You're just thrown into a different world and you just have to sink or swim.
38:06In both cases, critical details about the perpetrators only came to light during the murder trials or at inquests.
38:14Both men had been treated at St. Columba's Psychiatric Hospital in Sligo.
38:20Natalie McGuinness or her family did not know the extent of OisÃn Conroy's illness
38:26or his violent history when they were friends.
38:29This man had 26 previous convictions with 12 assaults.
38:34Like, that to me alone is shocking.
38:39None of us were aware of any of this.
38:41You know, this to me was absolutely mind-boggling.
38:53In 2017, at the Central Criminal Court, OisÃn Conroy went on trial for murder.
39:00They brought us up, was it two weeks before the court?
39:03To me, like, it was just like she was a number.
39:06You know, and he, it was more like he was the victim, really.
39:09You know, because of his mental health issues.
39:12To me, that's how it came across.
39:14Now we're going to the courts.
39:16A 34-year-old man from County Roscommon has been committed by the Central Criminal Court
39:22to the Central Mental Hospital.
39:24OisÃn Conroy of St. Joseph's Terrace in Boyle was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
39:32The court case lasted, I think, three days, and the jury deliberated for 24 minutes on her 23 years of
39:39life.
39:39They deliberated 24 minutes and came back with the verdict, not guilty by reason of insanity.
39:45The insanity defense has a number of elements to it, that you didn't know or appreciate the consequences of your
39:51actions,
39:52or that you didn't understand what you were doing was wrong, or that you couldn't resist what you were doing,
39:55putting it very basically.
39:57He was suffering, the court heard, from chronic paranoid schizophrenia and delusions.
40:01He had a long history of psychiatric illness, and during the short trial,
40:04the court heard that he'd stopped taking anti-psychotic medication in the months before the killing.
40:11The jury in the 2019 trial of Richard McLachlan for the murder of Jimmy Lachlan came to the same conclusion.
40:20The court heard Richard McLachlan was a paranoid schizophrenic and had a long history of violent episodes.
40:27He had poor compliance with his medication, and Garthi had warned the HSE he posed a risk to the general
40:34public,
40:35noting that there appeared to have been a breakdown between the HSE and the various agencies dealing with him.
40:42Richard McLachlan believed people wanted to kill him.
40:45He began uploading disturbing videos online.
40:48You and whoever that is, your brother or your husband or whatever,
40:52and that decrepit old fart that you walk up and down that road,
40:56what's stopping me from just going out and killing the three?
40:59You're nothing to me. Nothing.
41:02In late 2017 and 2018, he was not taking his medication as prescribed,
41:09and posting more videos under the pseudonym Lucifer,
41:13holding the crowbar that he would use to break into Jimmy's house.
41:17You feel that? You hear that?
41:20Quite a fucking wacky night.
41:23In interviews after his arrest, McLachlan was psychotic.
41:27It was an escalation of symptoms he had displayed throughout his adult life.
41:44You can't really blame, I mean, by annoying my daughters, by saying this.
41:50I say I've forgiven him, Richard McLachlan, because if you hold that inside of you,
41:55you never get anywhere in life.
41:56You know, you have to forgive him, because he was in his right mind when he killed Jim.
42:01And it wasn't his fault, to be fair, that we're meant to be looking after him.
42:05They let him down.
42:07Not only did they let us down, they let Richard down.
42:11You have to blame him a little bit, because he should have been able to go to his appointments
42:15and have his injections.
42:18You know, you can't have it both ways.
42:20Now, many people have schizophrenia, and they take their medication,
42:25and they look after themselves, and they engage,
42:28and they know if they don't, things can happen.
42:30And the system's job is to make sure that they get looked after,
42:33and they don't go down and spiral out of control.
42:39In the psychiatric system, there are many, many people with mental illness
42:45who show what you might call many, many red flags,
42:48but do not go on to commit any offence.
42:51It is impossible to predict who will and who will not,
42:55regardless of the number of red flags which are identified in retrospect.
43:07OisÃn Conroy's murder trial heard that he too was non-compliant with medication
43:11before he killed Natalie.
43:14Maybe that should be the red flag straight away,
43:16and like, wait a second, this person shouldn't be on their own,
43:20maybe they shouldn't be inside again in an inpatient facility,
43:24maybe they should have to come maybe every day,
43:26you know, until we can know that they're taking their medication again,
43:28or why they're not taking their medication.
43:33After their trials, OisÃn Conroy and Richard McLachlan
43:37were each committed to the Central Mental Hospital,
43:40where, unlike prison, their release depends on a clinical decision,
43:44not the length of their criminal sentence.
43:47Last year, Jodie McGuinness wrote a letter to query Portran's release policy.
43:53I told them I was Natalie's sister,
43:55and that the perpetrator had been committed to the Central Mental Hospital.
43:59They proceed to tell me they've been aware of us for the last 10 years,
44:03but you have to opt into their victim liaison service.
44:06They can't seek us out.
44:08Jodie learned OisÃn Conroy had already been granted Level 2 release,
44:13which meant he had been allowed supervised day trips in the Dublin area.
44:17These releases began in 2019,
44:21just two years after the murder trial.
44:24How was he out?
44:25Like, how have we never been told any of this?
44:28I was like, you know, this doesn't make sense to me.
44:30And then I was told that he had been out four times in 2019,
44:35and then his leave was revoked for unknown reason.
44:39He was let out in 2022,
44:41he was let out in 2024,
44:43and most recently he was out in July of 2025.
44:50Citing patient confidentiality,
44:52Jodie was not told why OisÃn Conroy's leave was suspended in 2019.
44:59What must have happened on the leave for it to be revoked?
45:02Why was it revoked?
45:04What did he do?
45:05You know, what then followed that
45:07was him not being out for another five years.
45:09To say that he would be low to medium risk
45:14to be out in the public
45:15is unfathomable to me, like, how?
45:18And if they have legitimate reasons,
45:21can they not share that?
45:29A lot of people probably think,
45:30that is very strange,
45:31but when we was on holiday,
45:34our last holiday together,
45:37we had this photo taken
45:39in Madame Tussauds in New York,
45:42and then after he died,
45:45I mean, Jim, you always just sit here anyway,
45:47talking to me when I was cooking or whatever.
45:49We'd just have a chit-chat,
45:51and when this photo came back,
45:53it was just,
45:54it just looked like it was meant to be
45:56him sitting on that chair,
45:59and then we just put the baseball cap on it as well,
46:02and, you know,
46:06try and be positive as much as we can.
46:11In the eight years since Jimmy Lachlan's death,
46:14his parents have had to campaign
46:16to expose what went wrong
46:18and get access to key information.
46:20At an inquest they had to fight to be held,
46:23a jury recommended
46:25that when patients diagnosed
46:26with serious mental health issues
46:28are discharged into the community,
46:30that there is regular,
46:32continuous interagency liaison.
46:35And in a separate High Court case,
46:37the HSE had to apologise to the family
46:40for shortcomings in Richard McLachlan's care.
46:43But the Lachlans are now being asked
46:46to trust the same HSE mental health services
46:49to decide whether Richard McLachlan
46:52is fit for phased release.
46:55So, listen, four years after Jim was killed,
46:58I get an email saying,
47:00we've decided that Richard has been approved
47:03to go out once a month
47:05in the Dublin area on supervised leave.
47:08Is that OK with you?
47:09So I said, no, I said, it's not OK.
47:11I said, we need to talk about this.
47:12He said, he's just been found,
47:15he's killed our son three years ago
47:16and he's allowed out.
47:18I said, what's going on?
47:20September, October 2024, last year.
47:22I said, get another email.
47:24It's been decided Richard McLachlan
47:27can now leave every day of the week,
47:30unsupervised,
47:31as long as he comes back in the evening.
47:34So I said, what?
47:36So as of now,
47:38I don't know whether he's walking
47:41the streets of Dublin,
47:42whether he's allowed now to get on planes
47:45or whatever, because we don't know.
47:51Every one of us,
47:53the Lachlan's included,
47:55we've all suffered immensely
47:57because of somebody
47:58that has mental health issues,
48:00that has murdered a family member of Arslaug.
48:02And I think that the state
48:04needs to become more accountable
48:05and we should be at least included
48:08in the board that decides
48:10whether he should be out
48:11in the community or not
48:12and where and when and how.
48:15You know?
48:18Balancing rights in these situations
48:20is complex.
48:22The clinical teams do need to do
48:23what is best for the patient
48:25in order to treat them,
48:27rehabilitate them to the community.
48:29But then the sensitivities
48:30and genuine concerns of victims
48:32are also important.
48:34I would like to see victims
48:35and families of victims
48:37getting a stronger voice
48:38in these processes,
48:39but they will always be difficult.
48:41It's a very fraught issue.
48:44It means families will be told
48:46that those who kill their loved ones
48:48are now well enough to be released.
48:50However, illnesses like paranoid schizophrenia
48:53require ongoing treatment.
48:56The victims' families we met
48:57are sceptical that the HSE
48:59will provide that essential care.
49:03It's very difficult for bereaved families
49:06to trust the system ever again,
49:08be it the psychiatric system
49:10or the criminal justice system.
49:12The National Forensic Mental Health Service
49:14does its best to do this
49:16through certain kinds of day release
49:17and other matters.
49:19But an overarching system
49:22that was more tiered in terms of care
49:25would allow more graded release
49:28and would allow the growing
49:30of more confidence
49:31in risk assessments in those cases.
49:33In a statement the HSE said
49:36before being discharged from the CMH,
49:39formal liaison takes place
49:41with the relevant
49:42Community Mental Health Service
49:43and a handover plan
49:45is agreed in advance.
49:46The problem these families face
49:49is that step-down facilities
49:50and regional forensic psychiatric services
49:53that were promised 20 years ago
49:56are still aspirational.
49:58This applies equally
50:00to people released from the CMH
50:02or from prison.
50:08In Easkie, County Sligo,
50:10it's a day for reflection.
50:12It's the 10th anniversary
50:14of Natalie McGuinness' death.
50:16Jodie and her mother Cathy
50:17host an annual cake sale
50:19to raise funds for causes
50:21that were important to Natalie.
50:28She was running 23.
50:30She'd be what now?
50:3233.
50:34You know, she should be here
50:35and looking at the fortress,
50:39her friends,
50:40and it's just,
50:42it's not easy,
50:43even 10 years on.
50:45Peter!
50:48Peter.
50:48Hello, Peter!
50:52Thanks, everybody,
50:53for coming here today
50:54and for celebrating
50:55our bake sale with us again
50:5710 years later.
50:58It's hard to believe
50:59we're all still here.
51:00And remembering Natalie,
51:02it's really special
51:03and thank you all very much.
51:05So, thank you.
51:15Michael and Paula Lachlan
51:16continue to push the HSE
51:19to fully account
51:20for what led to Jimmy's death
51:21and publish a serious
51:23incident review report.
51:25Jimmy's friends
51:26held a memorial
51:27tree-planting ceremony
51:28outside his old workplace.
51:32I say,
51:34unless you actually sit here
51:36and talk about it now,
51:37it seems surreal, you know,
51:40going back over all the details.
51:42For Jim to have been
51:44killed like that.
51:46It's all so unnecessary.
51:47When it shouldn't have happened.
51:49It just shouldn't have happened.
51:54Jodie and Cathy McGuinness
51:56are planning next year's cake sale
51:58for Natalie.
51:59It means the world to me.
52:01All of us
52:01keep our memory lives, really.
52:05So,
52:06that's all we can hope for.
52:09You know, you kind of
52:10lose faith a little bit
52:11in humanity
52:12when you realise
52:13that people can be so violent
52:14and evil
52:14and that these things
52:15do happen in the world.
52:16But I suppose ultimately,
52:18you know,
52:18there's a lot of kindness
52:19in the world
52:19and people are good
52:20and people want to help
52:22and it's clear to see, like,
52:23and I can see that.
52:23I can feel the support
52:24in here today.
52:25For a girl that's passed away
52:2610 years ago,
52:27you know,
52:27it just shows the deep impact
52:29it's made on our community.
52:30It's lovely.
52:31It's sad, but lovely.
52:35The Justice Minister said
52:37he was working to ensure
52:38the prison system
52:39is equipped to deal
52:40with the complex needs
52:42of people
52:42with mental health difficulties.
52:44He said
52:45the Committee on the Prevention
52:46of Torture
52:47has helped inform
52:48how we respond
52:49to current challenges
52:50and has acknowledged developments
52:52since its last visit.
52:54The Irish Prison Service said
52:56it works closely
52:57with the HSE
52:58to ensure timely assessment
53:00and continuity
53:01of psychiatric treatment
53:02but that decisions
53:04regarding the admission
53:05to the Central Mental Hospital
53:07or other approved centres
53:08rest solely
53:09with the National Forensic
53:11Mental Health Service
53:12and the HSE.
53:13All transfers
53:14are facilitated
53:15as soon as a bed
53:17becomes available.
53:18The Department of Health
53:19said funding
53:20was secured last year
53:21to open the intensive care
53:23rehabilitation units
53:24at the CMH
53:25on a phased basis.
53:27It said
53:28when fully operational,
53:29capacity at the new
53:30CMH
53:31will represent
53:32a 37% increase
53:34on the old hospital
53:35in Dundrum.
53:36The HSE outlined plans
53:39to make available
53:40unopened beds
53:41and units
53:41in the CMH
53:42on a phased basis
53:44and as soon as possible.
53:53If you or someone
53:55you know
53:55has been affected
53:56by any of the issues
53:57raised in tonight's programme
53:59you can find
54:00helpline information
54:01at
54:02rte.ie
54:03forward slash support
54:05in the CMH
54:19on a phased basis
54:24and as soon as possible.
54:24In the CMH
54:26on a phased basis
54:28in the CMH
54:28on a phased basis
54:33on a phased basis
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