New investigation into Littlehampton Somerfield stabbing

WHY a paranoid schizophrenic, who stabbed a young woman more than 20 times in a Littlehampton supermarket, was allowed to roam the streets on a mission to kill will be the subject of a new investigation.
By The Newsroom
Published 25th Feb 2010, 08:52 BST
Updated 25th Feb 2010, 08:53 BST

Samuel Reid-Wentworth, of Bognor, was living in supported housing under the care of the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust when he carried out a frenzied attack on Lucy Yates, 21 at the time, in Somerfield, Anchor Springs, in September, 2008.

A report by the trust on the treatment of Reid-Wentworth, who had told a psychiatrist he wanted to drink the blood of attractive women, was not made public, but NHS South East Coast, the Strategic Health Authority (SHA), has announced it will carry out an independent investigation which will be made public.

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Nick Gibb, MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, has called for the original report to be published since Reid-Wentworth, who was 22, was sent to Broadmoor indefinitely for attempted murder in February last year.

"Here is a man who was telling his carers what he intended to do, and was obviously a threat to women.

"There were failings in the system, and it is important that we know what these were, and that they are not kept under wraps," he said.

A spokeswoman for the SHA said the investigation would take the form of a review by an expert clinical panel.

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