A MAN has been sent to a high security hospital for life for stabbing a musician to death. Jonathan Mills, a paranoid schizophrenic, had been discharged from hospital just 10 days earlier after being sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
He thought Jewish people were to blame for his prescription tablets not being changed and walked up to father-of-three Michael Kahan, who he thought was Jewish, and stabbed him twice in the stomach near a bagel bakery in Crumpsall, Manchester.
Mr Kahan, 39, a talented violinist who played concerts around the world, had gone to the shop to buy bagels for his family on a Sunday morning in June.
Mills, 31, later told a psychiatrist: "I was having thoughts of attacking a Jew. I got out of the car. I heard a voice saying, 'Do it. Do it now.'
"I stabbed him twice in the stomach. I didn't say anything to him. I thought he was Jewish. He looked Jewish."
Mills, from Chadderton, Oldham, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Mr Kahan on the grounds of diminished responsibility at Manchester Crown Court.
Judge Anthony Gee ordered that he should be kept in a high security unit indefinitely.
CCTV footage of the horrific attack on Mr Kahan was shown to the court.
Mills, who has a long history of serious mental illness and failure to comply with his medication, is seen walking across Middleton Road and attacking Mr Kahan.
He had been discharged from hospital just 10 days earlier after being sectioned under the Mental Health Act and kept as an inpatient for five months.
Mr Kahan had been due later in the day to meet his son Max, 13. The boy was found waiting in the street for his father with a box of chocolates for his father's birthday - unaware that he'd been stabbed to death.
Mills was arrested the next day at his home and four knives were found in his room.
When interviewed by police he said he did not remember what had happened as he was drugged up on Clozaril - one of the drugs he had been prescribed for his condition.
But in a later interview with a psychiatrist he said he had been feeling on edge for some time and had woken up that morning with the thought of going to Crumpsall with a knife.
He told the psychiatrist that he had an idea Jewish people were behind him not getting tablets for his condition changed.
The court was told Mills had been admitted to hospital for a lengthy period in 2001 and then had managed his mental illness until September 2007 when he was sectioned again and admitted to hospital for two months.
He was admitted again in January 2008 and remained in hospital until May this year.
Defending, Richard Marks QC, said: "This case represents an appalling tragedy so far as the victim and his family is concerned. One's heart goes out to the family for the dreadful shocking loss of an innocent, good and much-loved man. "It is a tragedy for the defendant and his family as they will have to live with the knowledge of the terrible thing he did."
Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
Another example of how the Government contributes to breaking communities...
I wonder what 'for life' will mean in this case.
Another glowing example of cheap and ineffective 'care in the community'.
Another example of how the Mental Health Service is failing. I hope there is an enquiry into why a Paranoid Schizophrenic on medication was deemed safe to be released, when he obviously wasnt. How about an investigation into mental health and how its handled please M.E.N?
Yet another tragic tale of "professional" incompetence??
Who are these "anonymous professionals" who recklessly release "violent psychopaths & murderous criminals" back onto our streets?
Another inquiry, another retraining course - but never any apologies!!
So he'll be out in a couple of years then. Murder should mean life imprisonment - not a couple of years in hospital.
this is a sad tragic story, the thing is there are paranoid schizophrenics some are mild in that they don't have violent tendencies towards others probably other than self harm and then there is the violent one’s, and because it is said that they are not responsible for their actions when they are basically insane, then they should be locked up just for considering violence.
My thoughts are with Mr Kahans family, God Bless.
It's a societal problem. Positions of authority are filled by members of our society. Our society is selfish and thus is careless in executing its duty to society.
The country is on a downward spiral to despair and destitution. Anything goes U.K is going to lead to "we want anything to stop this madness" U.K.
Where on earth did this guy get his hatred of the Jews from? He doesn't seem well read to me.
Smacks of the guy who attacked a resteraunt in Bristol to me.
Lethal injection fits this crime. Why keep him at the tax payers expense.
My view is schizophrenia is a serious mental illness and in some respects you have to feel for the person who is suffering, the chances are he doesn’t want to go killing people he is trapped between himself and somebody else in his mind so you have to consider this.
My view is for the safety of others when they have thoughts of murdering and people are made aware of this then if you care it is better to be sectioned for the better of everyone
unfortunately in life there is going to be people in life who have this illness and they will bottle up inside their delusional demonic side and it only comes out when it is too late.
A point I would like to mention is that in the Psychiatric services there will be staff who suffer from stress, depression, and there maybe also staff that suffer from serious mental illness, but still keep their jobs going, staff problems can reflect on poor performance to the service user for a lot of reasons, unfortunate that it may be you have to weed out the people with serious illness amongst staff so you get better productivity otherwise we end up in an even bigger calamitous world of corruption.
Esso Blue, I'm not too sure what you are trying to say here. Are you suggesting that mental illness - in all its manifestations - is the cause of corruption?
Given that the statistics most frequently quoted claim that 1 in 3 of us will experience mental health difficulties at some point in our lives, that doesn't leave much hope for the state of the country, does it?
Ever considered the possibility that there might be a reason why so many public sector workers experience depression, etc.?
Maybe it could be the poor pay, poor working conditions, lack of funding/resources to provide a decent service, unrealistic expectations....
Sure, this is a tragic case, and my heart goes out to the family of the victim, but I would urge the public to think twice instead of being quick to judge the little guy just trying to do a job as well as s/he can, and often in difficult circumstances.
Someone with a mental illness gets detained for life, even though he or she at the time were not in control of themselves. Yet a mentally aware or well killer, with all faculties working is back on the street in a few months. I think the latter is more of a danger to the public at large. the rational behind sentencing seems so flawed.