Unlawful killing in a psychiatric hospital
A jury at Winchester Coroner’s Court has determined that Richard Laversuch was unlawfully killed on 26 November 2021 by a patient who was recently admitted to Juniper Ward at Parklands Hospital in Basingstoke. The inquest took place between 13 and 29 July 2026 before HM Area Coroner Nicholas Walker.
A young man was experiencing psychosis and told mental health professionals that he was in a game and voices were telling him to kill other people. He was assessed as requiring detention under the Mental Health Act 1983. The two doctors who assessed the young man thought he needed to be admitted to a psychiatric intensive care unit, given the high risk to others. However, the approved mental health professional (AMHP) who was employed by Hampshire County Council to organise the admission wrote “Juniper Ward” on the form that travelled with the young man to Parklands Hospital: this ward was not a psychiatric intensive care unit, but a regular acute ward with fewer staff.
The young man arrived during the night shift, and although the ward had earlier that day noted that he posed too great a risk to be admitted to Juniper Ward, that ward’s staff admitted him. Contrary to Trust policy, staff did not conduct a risk assessment, and they did not read the MHA papers that accompanied the young man. Some hours later, another patient on Juniper Ward said to nurses that a young man had attacked him. The staff checked the rooms and the patients appeared asleep. Staff did not take measures to protect other potential victims. Moments later, there was a commotion and staff rushed to the bedroom of another of the patients, 63-year-old Richard Laversuch. Staff saw the young man strangling Richard in his bed. They removed the young man. Despite resuscitation efforts, Richard sadly died.
At the start of the inquest, counsel for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust read out five admissions that contributed to Richard’s death. The jury agreed with these, and found further failings, including that the AMHP’s actions contributed to Richard’s death. In cross-examination of the AMHP, it was revealed that on 2 July 2026, he had been suspended by the regulator Social Work England for misconduct as he had been employed by more than one local authority at the same time and had not told his multiple employers. The jury found that the AMHP’s evidence contradicted six other witnesses and preferred the evidence of those other witnesses. At the end of the inquest, the Coroner indicated his intention to inform Social Work England about the jury’s findings of dishonesty.
The Coroner further indicated his intention to issue a prevention of future death report against the NHS Trust, which has had nearly five years to put in place a policy infrastructure to make its systems safe. During the inquest, Richard’s family (who include a retired consultant physician and a retired ICU nurse) showed how the Trust’s current policy on admitting patients and its current policy on risk assessments and observation levels are defective. The Coroner was also concerned that ward staff did not properly understand mental health risk assessments: they made decisions on the false assumption that the young man presented as calm so was not a risk to himself and others.
In February 2023, the man who killed Richard pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility and was sentenced to a hospital order under ss.37/41 Mental Health Act 1983.
In pre-inquest review hearings, Richard’s family reached out to the parents of the man who killed Richard. They took the view that both Richard and the man who caused Richard’s death had been failed by the Trust and the Council. During the inquest, Richard’s family invited the young man’s parents into legal conferences with their lawyers, invited them to share the family room at court, and sat with them in court.
Following the inquest, Richard’s sister Cathy Laversuch appealed for greater compassion for people with psychosis: “They're not monsters, they didn't ask to get ill and they could easily be your brother or sister, your son or daughter. Richard was a gentle character, but so was [the young man] before he got ill.”
Oliver Lewis of Doughty Street Chambers was instructed by Bríd Doherty at Hodge Jones and Allen to represent Richard’s family. The case was reported by the BBC (website here and here) and headlined the BBC South Today news programme on 29 July 2026.
