Overview

• Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has asked officials to urgently examine stopping benefit entitlement for offenders held under the Mental Health Act.
• Westcarr-Sabaroche’s family is meeting McFadden today to press for a rule change that would block payments to those detained in secure psychiatric units.
• Gogoa Lois Tape, convicted of manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility, is eligible for about £400 a month because he is classified as a patient rather than a prisoner.
• Government figures cited in the coverage indicate around 2,745 offenders detained under the Mental Health Act remain eligible to claim state benefits.
• An Old Bailey judge imposed an indefinite Section 37 hospital order with a Section 41 restriction after evidence of undiagnosed schizophrenia and long-term cannabis use.