Healthcare Inspectorate Wales investigation into the care of Mr M (Deyan Deyanov) – November 11 2014

“This shocking report uncovers repeated failings in the care of Deyan Deyanov.

It clearly shows that had his care and treatment in North Wales been better, the brutal killing of Jennifer Mills-Westley might well have been avoided.

Failings in record keeping, diagnosis, risk assessment and care planning meant a seriously ill and violent man was left at liberty when he should have been receiving care and treatment in hospital.

These exact same failings have all been highlighted before in previous inquiries in North Wales and it is deeply concerning they are still occurring today.

As a result wholly avoidable deaths keep on happening and innocent people are losing their lives unnecessarily.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board must improve the way it deals with these types of incidents, particularly after the callous way in which they treated the victims’ family in this case.”

ENDS

 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Jennifer Mills-Westley was fatally attacked by mentally ill Deyan Deyanov, in Los Cristanos, Tenerife, on 13 May 2011.

Months before, in June and September 2010, Deyanov had been admitted twice to the Ablett psychiatric unit at Glan Clwyd hospital near Rhyl, North Wales run by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB).

He was released without any aftercare or follow-up and subsequently travelled to Tenerife where he committed the offence.

On February 22 2013, a Spanish Court found Deyanov guilty of murder and sentenced him to be detained in a secure psychiatric hospital for 20 years.

This investigation by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales was only commissioned following extensive lobbying by Jennifer Mills Westley’s family after Betsi Cadwaladr refused to give them information about the case.

The Board said the family would have to approach Mr Deyanov themselves, to get his permission for them to see the Board’s serious incident investigation.

Previous mental health investigations into the care of Paul Khan, (who repeatedly and fatally stabbed Brian Dodd in Prestatyn in March 2003), and Christopher Devine, (who fatally stabbed Sandra Bowring in Rhyl in October 2006), found similar failings to those found in this report.

The Khan inquiry found problems with aftercare arrangements

The Devine investigation found problems with risk assessments, record keeping & sharing information.