Only this week, I was emailed by a mental health nurse asking for advice about an assault which took place on the ward where she works. The relevant aspect of her question for us today is the police responded to the assault being reported by saying there was nothing they could do “because he’s on a section”.
Regular readers will know we’ve somewhat been here before, more than once. There is, of course, absolutely no legal barrier to prosecuting someone wo is “on a section” and the proof of this came again, from the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear mental health trust (CNTW) last week.
William Young was a detained patient on a psychiatric intensive care unit ward in the Trust at the point where he assaulted two nurses who had asked him to start winding down from playing on a games console, in preparation for going to bed. He brushed them off very bluntly and responded appallingly to their further attempts to persuade him. This included both nurses being assaulted, injured and threatened with further violence, including Mr Young saying he would kill them if they pressed their alarms to summon more staff.
VICTIM IMPACT
One of the nurses has over 40yrs experience of mental health care and experience of challenging behaviours but even she said she’s known nothing like it and was terrified he was going to bite her face off, so she covered her face with her hands and Mr Young was pulled away by other staff who did arrive. The patient was prosecuted for assault and, having been found fit to plead, agreed he had committed two offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm:
One nurse suffered concussion and possible fractured ribs, redness and a lump to her head and bruising to her elbow, back and knee. Her colleague sustained soft tissue injuries to her back, a herniated disc to her lower back, redness and lump to her forehead and a bite mark to her arm.
Appalling – absolutely appalling.
Now, I’m not suggesting the assault mentioned in an email to me was as serious as this, but it does show the reasoning of “he’s on a section” to be ridiculous. Mr Young was on a section and he was prosecuted and pleaded guilty to the charges. It’s important we don’t have myths floating about that “sectioned patients can’t be prosecuted” or anything similar, because it just isn’t true and cases like that involving Mr Young show it’s wrong – the nurses know it’s wrong, too and they will often have more experience of or at least knowledge of assaults happening where charges are brought successfully.
KICKING THE CAN
If you read the hyperlinked article about this case, you’ll have learned he ended up receiving a restricted hospital order and was moved to a secure unit in Northumberland. To some extent it may be argued he’s just been transferred between mental health units so to an extent, what was the point? Well, there are loads of points and it’s worth me going through them, I think because I often wonder whether some believe we can’t prosecute sectioned patients because it doesn’t really make any difference that can’t be made by just transferring the patient to appropriate levels of therapeutic security.
- This patient has now been convicted – it shows actions to consequences, it makes an example of his conduct that others may think about; it
- It also means his ability to seek discharge from hospital is radically changed: as a “sectioned” patient on a PICU, he is at liberty to apply for a mental health tribunal at certain points (it varies depending on s2 or s3 MHA) but tribunals are less accessible for restricted patients.
- Tribunals also work to different rules because the s41 ‘restriction’ of someone like Mr Young is imposed by the court because it has been found he poses “a risk of serious harm” to the public – this means the any tribunal to which he applies would have to be satisfied that had been addressed.
- All restricted hospital order patients are subject to oversight by the Secretary of State for Justice and SoS authority is needed to authorise any discharge from hospital.
It also makes a difference post discharge:
- Now Mr Young has been made subject to a restricted hospital order, he will be subject to MAPPA provisions on discharge – multi-agency public protection arrangements involving the police, mental health services and others. This will ensure a degree of monitoring, post-discharge which would not have happened if he’d been discharged from s3 MHA to a community mental health team, for example.
- Also, discharge from hospital will not be an immediate and full discharge: he will be released on what is known as ‘conditional discharge‘, under s42 MHA – this means supervision by a forensic community mental health team (greater oversight than a ‘normal’ CMHT) and any conditionally discharged patient can be returned to hospital if concerns emerge.
So put that all together and there are good reasons to think prosecution offers considerable benefits where done appropriately and with justification. This requires a thorough police investigation to gather evidence and appropriate information and background sharing between the trust and the police. What certainly should not be happening is officers hearing an allegation of assault, recognising the accused person is a sectioned patient and then declaring prosecution is not legally possible.
It is.
Whether it is the correct option will absolutely depend on specific factors, but you can only get to them if you’re aware of the myths and folklore going on around you. And one final point, because it’s exasperating and I’ve written about it too many times before: the decision to prosecute is nothing to do with ‘capacity’ (whatever that means) – capacity is not a concept in criminal law.
Winner of the President’s Medal, the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Winner of the Mind Digital Media Award
All opinions expressed are my own – they do not represent the views of any organisation.
(c) Michael Brown, 2025.
I am not a police officer.
I try to keep this blog up to date, but inevitably over time, amendments to the law as well as court rulings and other findings from inquests and complaints processes mean it is difficult to ensure all the articles and pages remain current. Please ensure you check all legal issues in particular and take appropriate professional advice where necessary.
Government legislation website – www.legislation.gov.uk
Mental Health Cop 