Family of slain pensioners say: More must be done to stop mental health-related killings following suspected murder-suicide in Newtownabbey

Charles Little, who was the first person on the scene following a “frenzied” knife attack in Portadown in April 2017 that claimed the lives of his wife’s 83-year-old parents Michael and Marjorie Cawdery, was speaking to the News Letter following another horrific incident in Newtownabbey that claimed three lives.

On Friday, the bodies of Stacey Knell, Karen McClean and Ken Flanagan were found in separate properties in Newtownabbey.

Police believe Mr Flanagan, who is thought to have taken his own life, killed his mother Ms McClean and girlfriend Ms Knell.

Mr Little, who has been campaigning for some time for a strategy for Northern Ireland to address the issue of “avoidable deaths” related to mental health, said the deaths “may possibly have been avoided”.

He was speaking to the News Letter after Sam Lillie, the father of Ms Knell’s child, said he contacted both the police and social services on Friday to say he was worried about his child being in Mr Flanagan’s company.

Speaking in a radio interview with the BBC on Tuesday, Mr Lillie said he had learned that Mr Flanagan had mental health problems, as well as drug addiction and violence issues.

Mr Little said: “Listening to BBC Good Morning Ulster, apparently concerns had been raised about Mr Flanagan last week about mental health issues and other issues.

“This would appear to be another case where the deaths may have been avoided.”

Mr Little has been campaigning for some time for a strategy to deal with mental health in Northern Ireland to address the issue of “avoidable deaths” related to mental health – including suicides and the killing of others by mental health patients.

He believes that without such a strategy, Northern Ireland is likely to see more horrific deaths.

A draft mental health strategy is currently out to public consultation, but Mr Little believes it does not address the issue of “avoidable deaths”.

“It’s just not in it,” he said. “The health and social care system is entirely reactive. They should be seeking to protect life and prevent death.

“Without proper action mental health, the deaths we have seen in Newtownabbey could happen again and again. It’s possible that, had a proper mental health strategy that addressed the issue of avoidable deaths been in place, this may not have happened at all.”

Mr Little added: “That’s the point. If you’re managing the mental health patient properly, this shouldn’t happen.

“We can’t stop all the deaths, obviously, because the nature of mental health problems involves a degree of unpredictability.

“But if you have a case where a man is phoning up expressing concern, you’ve got to take action.”

The public consultation on the draft mental health strategy for Northern Ireland closes on Friday.

In his response to a public consultation to the draft mental health strategy, Mr Little wrote: “In Northern Ireland hundreds of people die every year, year on year, because of mental health.

“The strategy does not address the issue of avoidable deaths in any meaningful way.

“The words ‘avoidable death’ and ‘saving life’ do not appear anywhere in the document. Indeed, the word death only appears once and that refers to Covid deaths.”

He added: “Mental health is not a side show. It is a lethal epidemic and must be treated as such. The strategy, clearly and unambiguously stated, must be to reduce avoidable death to zero.”

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