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Murderer's family made 100 help pleas
A MENTAL health charity has warned that cries for help from
Daniel Gonzalez and his family were missed before he turned
to violence.
The Surrey and Borders NHS Trust, which treated Gonzalez for
seven years, insists the gruesome killings could not have been
predicted.
But Rethink, a charity supporting Gonzalez’s mother, Lesley
Savage, said that more than 100 pleas for support went unanswered.
Cliff Prior, Rethink’s chief executive, said: “This
tragic case highlights the need for mental health services from
top to bottom to listen and act when families come to them for
help. Currently, one in four people is turned away when seeking
help.”
He added: “The victims and Daniel Gonzalez were not failed
by mental health law – the present Mental Health Act makes
it clear that pleas for help must be responded to – he
was failed by individuals and services who did not implement
the law properly.”
In a statement after the case, Ms Savage said: “Despite
our incessant pleas to health services, social services and
to the police, Daniel was often turned away, passed from one
group of professionals to another and left without the support
and help he so obviously and desperately needed.”
An inquiry – to be held behind closed doors – will
probe the care Gonzalez received.
A Surrey and Borders Trust statement said: “These incidents
were not preceded by a history of violence and for that reason
the trust does not believe his actions could have been predicted.” |
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