Stepdaughter of dog walker stabbed to death by paranoid schizophrenic blasts ... trends now
The grieving stepdaughter of paranoid schizophrenic David Fleet's victim Lewis Stone said the family had been let down by the whole system and that his life 'counted for nothing'.
Vicki Lindsay, 46, spoke out as a previously confidential report by health officials into Fleet's care found a series of failings before he was released from a psychiatric unit and stabbed devoted family man Mr Stone who he encountered at random in a Welsh village.
Ms Lindsay said: 'This has devastated our whole family. I am angry at the whole system and think there were failures right through the whole thing. We have been let down by the judge, family liaison and the mental health services.'
As well as the blunders by the Welsh health board in charge of Fleet's care, Ms Lindsay told how he has even been allowed unescorted day release since last autumn.
She said the first time they met their local police family liaison officer was in September last year when they were told that Fleet, now 23, was being allowed out on 'unescorted leave'.
David Fleet, 20, stabbed a man to death after leaving a psychiatric unit
Ms Lindsay, who had to give up her job managing a care home because Mr Stone's death left her with post-traumatic stress disorder, said: 'It was only three and a half years after he murdered my step-dad. To us it seems like his life counted for nothing.
'His mum is now saying that he is well and remorseful so he should be serving a sentence to reflect the crime he has committed.
'There is a thing called a hybrid order that allows sentences be served partly in hospital and then in a prison but because he was under 21, it did not apply to him.
'I believe there were mental health issues.
'I believe he knew what he was doing.
'It was pre-meditated. He followed a girl a couple of days before, so he was intending to hurt someone. He hid the knife and fled the scene. Those are the actions of someone consciously trying to get away with murder not suffering mental illness.'
She said it was only a few weeks ago that the family were given a Homicide Self-Referral Form to fill in by Victim Support.
'We have had no justice and no support,' she added.
'I hate David Fleet with a passion. I hate what he has done to us. Lewis had been my dad since I was four years old. He was very hard working, a gentleman and the rock of our family.'
Lewis Stone, pictured, was set upon by David Fleet on the banks of the River Leri on February 28 2019
Ms Lindsay said Mr Stone, a father of two, stepfather of two and grandfather of five, had been with her mother for 42 years when he was killed - and the couple planned to move permanently from Burton, Staffordshire to their home on the South Wales coast.
Ms Lindsay said that when Fleet was in court, the judge just said her stepfather 'had been in the wrong place and the wrong time'.
She added: 'But when he said Fleet should be held in a secure psychiatric hospital rather than prison, we assumed this meant for decades not three years. He said there would be no release until a Ministry of Justice Boad determined he was no longer a threat and that public safety would be the highest priority. I can't believe that this is what has happened.'
Meanwhile, Fleet's mother demanded a public apology from an NHS health board for failing her son and the victim's family.
Sharon Lees told the BBC that prior to the attack, she had struggled to control her son's mental state and that he had become increasingly erratic in the build up to being detained in a psychiatric unit.
Following a frightening incident in which he had 'severely self-harmed' in his room, he was placed on anti-psychotic medication, but his mental health still deteriorated.
She said: 'He seemed to
