Did he get away with murder?

There has been a lot of reports in the media about the tragic Valdo Calocane case who killed three people in the midst of a psychotic episode. His plea of manslaughter by diminished reponsibility was accepted by the court and he was sent to hospital under the Mental Health Act rather than to prison. Unfortunately, that has triggered the rhetoric that he “got away with murder”.

I can only imagine the grief that the families must be going through and I won’t pretend for a second to understand it. However, I remain of the view that a hospital order was correct. The top priority ought to be public protection and risk reduction over and above the desire for punishment at all costs.

Prof Seena Fazel’s thread on twitter/X (whatever we are calling it now) outlines the rationale better than I could.

https://twitter.com/seenafazel/status/1772685226956726581