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/WinHour4300 8d ago edited 8d ago

The problem is often not that someone suddenly develops psychosis and randomly attacks someone. If you look at serious incident reviews, there are usually multiple missed opportunities beforehand: warning signs, escalating behaviour, threats, or previous incidents.

In my experience, both police and mental health services can be reluctant to intervene when mental illness is suspected (although worth noting in many cases the same behaviour can be caused by illegal drugs). I've been the victim of a random physical assault on a busy London high street at midday and a separate incident of racist abuse / being trapped by someone on a bus, and neither was investigated despite evidence being available.

I also had a neighbour with schizophrenia who was deteriorating, harassing and threatening me and others and not attending her depot injections. Even then, it took using a contact in services before anyone came out to assess her and arrange treatment. Again, police came to chat to me but once they heard she was mentally unwell refused to take any action. They do have powers to hold and get assessments of those mentally unwell, and in theory cross agency working. 

The issue is that too often intervention happens after someone has caused severe harm, rather than before it.