Care home killer's escorted leave plan 'abhorrent' - victim's family

The family of a 93-year-old killed in her care home by a younger resident has condemned a proposal to allow the killer to spend time outside the secure hospital where he is held.

Alexander Rawson, then 62, beat Eileen Dean with a walking stick at the south-east London home in 2021.

He was sentenced to indefinite detention in a secure hospital.

Mrs Dean's daughter, Georgina Hampshaw, says the proposal to allow him escorted leave is "ill-conceived and abhorrent".

Rawson was deemed unfit to stand trial for murder and instead, in November 2021, an Old Bailey jury listened to the evidence and decided he was responsible for the killing, a procedure known as a trial of the facts.

The judge gave Rawson an indefinite hospital order.

Mrs Dean's family has been told a request has now been submitted to the Ministry of Justice for Rawson to go on escorted leave into the community, accompanied by hospital staff.

In line with regulations, his doctor must have the request approved by the justice secretary.

In her response to the Ministry of Justice, Ms Hampshaw has denounced the proposal as ill-conceived and abhorrent.

She writes that it "beggars belief that his clinicians are now of the opinion that he is apparently well enough to be given escorted leave".

Referring to the case of Valdo Calocane, who killed three people in Nottingham last year, she says: "The families of those who die at the hands of killers with mental health issues are treated with complete and utter contempt."

Like the families of Calocane's victims, Mrs Dean's family feel Rawson cheated justice by not going through a murder trial.

The Ministry of Justice said: "This was a horrific crime and our thoughts remain with Mrs. Dean's family and friends.

"Applications for escorted leave from mental health hospitals are made by doctors, but public protection will always be our priority and we refuse those which would put the public at risk."

Rawson, who had a history of mental health problems caused by alcoholism, was moved into the room next to Mrs Dean at the Fieldside care home in Catford a few days before Christmas 2020.

In the first week of 2021, he went into Mrs Dean's room at night and attacked her with a metal walking stick, inflicting catastrophic injuries to her head and body. She died later in hospital.

After the attack, Rawson phoned 999 and said: "I think somebody's been killed and I don't know what's happening."

In a review published in November 2022, the Lewisham Safeguarding Adults Board described how Rawson had been moved into Fieldside after being an inpatient at a psychiatric unit run by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

The home was the only place that agreed to take him after his discharge from hospital.

In the months before his attack on Mrs Dean, while he was in hospital, Rawson was involved in at least 34 recorded incidents of violence or threats to patients and health staff, including a threat to kill. The review revealed how no formal risk assessment was done before his move to the care home.

The Ministry of Justice said it did not comment on individual cases. It said the granting of leave was usually subject to strict conditions and the justice secretary had a role in this.

Government guidance states that patients on escorted leave must stay in the custody of escorts, who have the power to restrain them. It is for the hospital to assess the number of escorts required.

An inquest into Mrs Dean's death is due in February 2024.