The family of a grandmother who was beheaded by a man discharged from a psychiatric unit because doctors thought he was malingering to try to get himself housing said that they felt betrayed by health leaders.
A report on the murder of Jennifer Mills-Westley, who was killed in Tenerife, said there were clear shortcomings in the care that had been provided to Deyan Deyanov at a unit in north Wales.
Deyanov, a Bulgarian drifter, was twice admitted to the Ablett psychiatric unit near Rhyl, and spent more than two months as an inpatient there. He told staff he was the messiah, had the power to save the world, heard more than 100 voices in his head and was being pursued by hidden cameras. On several occasions he made threats to staff.
But staff concluded he was feigning illness to try to secure accommodation, and he was discharged. He was brought back to the unit by a police officer within hours after being spotted behaving strangely outside a supermarket, but then sent away from the unit again.
Deyanov left the UK for the Canary Islands and seven months later, in May 2011, attacked Mills-Westley, 60, as she shopped in the resort of Los Cristianos.
Deyanov, 31, is now being held in a secure psychiatric unit in Spain. A report from the watchdog the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales concluded there was “good evidence” that Deyanov could have had a psychotic illness when he was treated in Wales. The report said the malingering label meant he was not allocated a care co-ordinator and so was discharged with no support or care. It said the feigning of serious mental illness was “unusual and rare”.
In addition the report claimed some staff had a prejudiced view towards Deyanov because of his nationality and said staff should have done more to engage with his family. The report said the likelihood of the killing might have been significantly reduced had there not been failings.
Mills-Westley’s daughters said their mother would still be alive if doctors had recognised that Deyanov had serious mental health problems.
In a statement, they said: “These failings are far worse than we had imagined … we sincerely hope that our mother’s murder will not be in vain and that the Betsi Cadwaladr university health board [responsible for the Ablett unit] will recognise the repeated shortfalls in the care they provide, and act.
“We cannot put into words the sense of betrayal we have experienced with our dealings with the health board. Had Betsi Cadwaladr recognised that Deyan Deyanov was a young man with very serious mental health problems then our mother would still be alive today.”
The case will refocus attention on the care and supervision given to potentially dangerous people with mental health problems. It comes as an inquiry is being launched into why Matthew Williams, who killed 22-year-old Cerys Yemm in an act of cannibalism last week in south Wales, was apparently not supervised or given access to the medication he needed to keep his paranoid schizophrenia in check.
Deyanov, the son of a Bulgarian factory owner who fell on hard times after the fall of communism, was in north Wales visiting an aunt in 2010. She became worried after he told people he was going to be famous and she contacted the police. He was admitted to the Ablett.
According to initial notes made by staff there, he presented with an “acute hypomanic state, agitated pressure of speech, grandiose ideas that he is the messiah [with] powers from God to save the world – believes there are hidden cameras following him.”
He said he felt watched, telling staff: “I can’t go to the toilet, I can’t sleep. They are there all the time. They are getting on my nerves.” He said he was desperate to make them stop as he just wanted to feel alone.
By September he was saying that he could hear more than 100 voices at a time. But doctors decided he had no serious mental illness and he was discharged in October. He went to Tenerife and lived in a crumbling beachside building. He took crack cocaine and LSD and created a religious shrine.
According to a friend, Deyanov showed interest in Bogomilism, a Bulgarian cult which believes the world was created by the devil. At his trial in Spain, Deyanov claimed that voices in his head told him he was an “angel of Jesus Christ” sent to create a new Jerusalem. He said they told him to “kill, fight, hit, pray”.
Deyanov attacked Mills-Westley, a retired road safety worker, in a general store, plunging a 22cm (9in) knife repeatedly into her neck. He walked out carrying her head before being wrestled to the ground and arrested.
Matthew Makin, medical director of Betsi Cadwaladr health board, said changes had been made. He said: “Mental illness is a complex issue and diagnosis is not always straightforward. We cannot say with certainty whether the treatment [given to Deyanov] in our care influenced his actions seven months later in Tenerife. However, I acknowledge and sincerely apologise for the shortcomings in the care provided detailed in today’s report.”
