Co-ordination between agencies criticised in Michael Stone report

An independent report into the care of murderer Michael Stone has today criticised the lack of co-ordination and planning between agencies in Kent.

The community mental health team was “reluctant to get involved with” Stone, who murdered Lin and Megan Russell in 1996, because of his perceived danger, the inquiry found.

Care provided by the addiction service was “poor in a number of respects”, Stone’s prison medical records had been lost, and there was confusion in social services about the identity of his key worker.

The care planning carried out by agencies was also criticised, with provision lacking “clarity of purpose and co-ordination”.

The report also reveals that, five days before the murder, in a meeting with a psychiatric nurse, Stone threatened to kill his previous probation officer and prison officers.

But the inquiry stresses that Stone, who presented with severe antisocial personality disorder, substance abuse problems and psychotic symptoms, was difficult to diagnose and “did not easily fall into the province of one agency or combination of them”.

It says the case was not one of a man being ignored by agencies, because he received a lot of attention from services in Kent and would have received less assistance in many other parts of the country.

It concludes there is no evidence his crimes would have been prevented if failings in his treatment had not occurred.

The report has been delayed for six years because of Stone’s appeal against his conviction and subsequent attempts to stop its publication.