Living in fear of a man who could strike again

Liz Searl talks to a victim who says her attacker should be in a mental hospital

Esther Bar-Joseph was attacked on 31 May this year as she walked to the bus stop after work. She was kicked, pushed into the road in the path of a car and thumped in the neck. Her assailant then sat down again at the bus stop and drank from a can of beer.

"I screamed for help because I was terrified he was going to lay into me again," she said. "Then a few people who had been standing by the gate at work ran to help and a security guard took me inside. When the police arrived 15 minutes later, the man said he hadn't gone near me."

In fact, Michael Doherty told police that Ms Bar-Joseph drank regularly with him at a local pub in Cricklewood, north-west London. He also claimed to recognise one of the police officers who attended the incident from Northern Ireland. Neither comment was true.

"Then I went to give my statement in the evening ... He was supposed to be assessed by five people from Mind [the mental health charity], but he just kept trying to take them all on at once. They gave up in the end and postponed it," she said.

Doherty's violence continued and he was kept on remand in the psychiatric ward at Wormwood Scrubs prison. He had no recollection attacking Ms Bar-Joseph, even when the incident came to court in July.

Doherty was convicted of assault and sentenced to five months in prison. Police officers have told Ms Bar-Joseph that he is due out in November. She has since approached the Zito Trust, a charity set up by the widow of Jonathan Zito, who was killed by a schizophrenic, for help.

"I'm terrified. This man lives in Cricklewood and I work locally ... I have been told that he has more than 50 convictions, most of them for attacks on women. I have also been told that if mental hospitals weren't being closed, this man would be living in one.

"This is certainly is not care in the community. I almost feel sorry for the fact that he needs help and there is no one helping him. If that continues, then he will do it again. And it should not be surprising."

Tragic victims: Seven case studies where the system was found wanting

Katie Sullivan, 23 (above) was stabbed to death at a rehabilitation hostel in Kingston, south-west London. Erhi Inweh, 22, had a history of violence which the hostel had never been warned about. Her doctor and social worker were strongly criticised for not providing the hostel with her record, which included several murder attempts. Inweh was found not guilty of murder on grounds of insanity and was sent to Broadmoor special hospital.

Michael Buchanan, 29, battered Frederick Graver (above) to death with a piece of wood. Buchanan committed the motiveless attack 17 days after being released from mental hospital, despite medical reports which said he was dangerous. Buchanan's release from hospital into a hostel for homeless working men was criticised by Sane, the mental health charity. He received four life sentences on 18 October, 1993.

Jason Mitchell, 24, was jailed for life on 7 July 1995 after he killed his father and an elderly couple because "auditory hallucinations" told him to. Mitchell had been committed indefinitely to a secure mental institution in 1990 after he attacked a church cleaner with a baseball bat. He was later released for care in the community. On 14 December, Arthur and Shirley Wilson (above) were found strangled at their home in Bramford, Suffolk. Six days later, the body of Mitchell's father was found.

Christopher Clunis, a paranoid schizophrenic, stabbed Jonathan Zito (above) to death at Finsbury Park Tube station, north London, on 17 December, 1992. Eight days earlier, he had threatened to stab passers- by, but police did not ask for an emergency assessment until 15 December. An inquiry said they should share the blame for what happened with psychiatrists, social workers, the Crown Prosecution Service, hostel staff and probation service. Clunis was given indefinite internment in a secure hospital.

Voluntary care worker, Jonathan Newby, 22, (above) was stabbed through the heart by John Rous, 49, in October 1993. Rous had already telephoned police from Jacqui Porter House, an Oxford Cyrenians charity hostel. He threatened to kill Mr Newby but the call was ignored. Rous was ordered to be detained indefinitely at Broadmoor. An inquiry damned the Cyrenians, Oxfordshire social services, the health authority and the police for mistakes which allowed the attack to take place.

Occupational therapist Georgina Robinson, 26, (above) was stabbed by Andrew Robinson (no relation), a schizophrenic patient at the Edith Morgan Centre for acute psychiatric care in Torquay, Devon, in September 1993. She died five weeks later. An inquiry said doctors had consistently ignored Robinson's violent behaviour for 15 years and they and managers had placed too much emphasis on the civil liberties of patients.

Robinson was later sent to Broadmoor.

Ben Silcock, 27, (above) was mauled to death by a lion at London Zoo on 31 December, 1992, after he jumped into its pen. He had been diagnosed schizophrenic in 1984 and had been in hospital several times. He had been living on his own for the previous 18 months. Two years before the incident, Mr Silcock had entered a guard-dog compound to "play with them". The incident prompted the then health secretary, Virginia Bottomley, to order a review of the Mental Health Act.