Cannibalistic killer not watched properly in Broadmoor, inquest finds

Peter Bryan, who smashed fellow patient’s head on floor because ‘he wanted to eat him’, not adequately assessed A man who attacked and killed a fellow patient at a high-security psychiatric hospital because he “wanted to eat him” was not being watched properly, and had not been adequately assessed, an inquest jury ruled on Thursday. Peter Bryan “smashed” Richard Loudwell’s head on the floor at Broadmoor hospital and tied a ligature around his neck on April 25 2004, an inquest at Berkshire coroners court heard. Loudwell, 60, who was admitted to Broadmoor in January that year, was taken to Frimley Park hospital in Surrey but died 41 days later, never having regained consciousness. The jury was told Bryan had attacked a 21-year-old woman, hitting her on the head around six times with a claw hammer in 1993. He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility. Bryan spent eight years at Rampton hospital and was eventually allowed back into society, but later attacked and killed a man, named in reports as Brian Cherry on February 17 2004. The victim had been dismembered and officers found a frying pan on the stove with tissue from the dead man’s brain. Bryan told officers: “I ate his brains with butter. It was really nice.” The killer was admitted to Broadmoor’s Luton ward on April 15 2004, after a stay at Belmarsh prison where he was described as “unpredictable”; presenting a “grave risk to others” and “extremely dangerous”. He was put in seclusion but four days after his arrival was allowed to mingle with patients under “general observations” or 15-minute checks, the inquest was told. But just after 6pm on April 25 he attacked Loudwell in the dining room of Luton ward. At the conclusion of the inquest, the jury ruled Loudwell died of bronchopneumonia, a hypoxic brain injury, ligature strangulation and blunt trauma to the head. Recording a narrative verdict, the jury said the dining room was not adequately observed by nursing staff at the time of the attack. Jurors also found Bryan’s mental state had not been adequately examined before his release from seclusion on April 19, or between that date and the attack on April 25. “Until such a mental state examination was completed, Peter Bryan should have been on higher observations than the general level. Such failure may have contributed to Richard Loudwell’s death.” The verdict said the absence of one or more of several factors may have contributed to Loudwell’s death. These included a pre-admission nursing report, a clinical team meeting, an adequate mental state examination, a formal written risk assessment and medical staff regularly seeing Bryan when he was out of seclusion. The inquest was told there were 19 patients in Luton ward on the day of the attack on Loudwell. Nine members of staff were present for the afternoon shift. Joanne Fisher, registered mental nurse and team leader on the ward, described finding Loudwell with head injuries on the floor of the ward dining room. In a statement read by Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford, she said Bryan told her: “I got him from behind, I put a ligature around his neck so that he wouldn’t make a noise, and I smashed his head.” She added: “Mr Bryan said he had been thinking about it for a few days. He also said: ‘I wanted to eat him.’” From Fisher’s statements, the inquest heard Loudwell was “hard to work with”, “generally unco-operative” and had complained of bullying. He had gone against advice from staff not to disclose the offence for which he was in Broadmoor, the inquest heard, and one senior member of nursing staff described him as the “most unpopular patient I have ever met”, saying it was “inevitable” that “sooner or later” he would be assaulted. But according to Fisher’s statement, he had started to “interact” more and shortly before he was attacked was seen playing cards with patients. She said she was not aware of Bryan being involved in bullying Loudwell. In the jury’s narrative verdict, they said staff should have known both men were in the dining room, but “having regard to Peter Bryan’s presentation whilst in Broadmoor”, it should not have caused concern that they were in the room together. Crime guardian.co.uk

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