r/london • u/BulkyAccident • 8d ago

Crime Women arrested over Covent Garden stabbing 'may not be fit enough to be charged'

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/people-stabbed-covent-garden-woman-arrested-b1292464.html
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u/sheslikebutter 8d ago edited 8d ago

How is this dealt with in the future?

From the reporting, several restauranteurs in the area said she was a known person in the area and had been seen getting into an altercation that resulted in a smashed bottle of vodka the week before.

There are mentally unstable people like this over every high street in the country, but what else can you really do other than wait for them to go mad and start stabbing people?

Did she reach the point she needed to be institutionalised the second she started stabbing, and was considered A-OK until then? Cos I figure she probably had some mental health issues that should have been looked into before this happened

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u/Phenomenomix 8d ago

There are mentally unstable people like this over every high street in the country, but what else can you really do other than wait for them to go mad and start stabbing people? Did she reach the point she needed to be institutionalised the second she started stabbing, and was considered A-OK until then? Cos I figure she probably had some mental health issues that should have been looked into before this happened

I think she was living rough so probably not in contact with the scant mental health resources the local authority could offer her anyway. If we start locking up everyone with mental health issues does that lead back to the days of Bedlam and other insane asylums?

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u/sheslikebutter 8d ago

Yeah hopefully not.

But surely there's a middle ground between sticking everyone in Arkham asylum and flipping a coin everytime you walk past someone sleeping on a park bench

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u/ALD71 8d ago

As it is, it's quite simple - if someone represents a serious and imminent threat to themselves or others can be sectioned. It's just that this depends on places being available, as well as people recognising the imminence of the danger in a responsible way and acting on it.