Hospital Order with Restrictions for Diminished Responsibility Manslaughter

Benjamin Newton KC, leading Gerwyn Wise (Garden Court Chambers) and instructed by Nathaniel Gadsby (TV Edwards Solicitors) represented L, who was sentenced to a Hospital Order with Restrictions pursuant to s37/41 MHA 1983. L had been previously detained in hospital following a serious attack on his father, but had been living in the community with support since 2021. In late 2024 he was permitted to move from supported to independent accommodation and then in 2025 his medication was changed, resulting in a relapse of psychotic symptoms of his schizophrenia, including command hallucinations. In June 2024 such hallucinations led him to fatally stab his mother in her home and he was arrested shortly afterwards. Having pleaded not guilty to murder, LM’s offer of a guilty plea to manslaughter was eventually accepted by the prosecution following favourable evidence from two psychiatrists instructed by the defence.