A son was allowed to walk free from a mental health unit a month before he stabbed his sister to death despite suffering ‘severe delusions’ he was a Transformers robot, an inquest heard.
Crazed Melvin James, 36, stabbed sister Anne-Marie, 33, and mother Lynette, 59, repeatedly, before turning the knife on himself on March 8.
An inquest heard his mother told him ‘I love you, son’ as he plunged the knife into her body at their second-floor flat in Wolverhampton.
This is Ann-Marie James, 33, (left) who was the victim of the attack by her brother, 36-year-old Melvin James, (right) an inquest heard
Tragic Anne-Marie suffered 17 stab wounds, while Mr James was found to have inflicted at least 80 stab wounds on himself, and both passed away at around 11am.
Meanwhile Lynette, who was rushed to hospital, incredibly survived the attack.
Black Country Coroners Court heard Mr James had been living in Edinburgh for a number of years, where he was sectioned just over a month before the incident.
A jury heard how he was seen walking around by himself on February 2, with the intention of going all the way back to Wolverhampton to see his family.
Upon being taken to the Royal Edinburgh Hospital by police, he expressed some ‘incredibly strange and concerning thoughts’.
The inquest was told how he spoke of being a Transformers robot – from the 80s children’s TV programme – and claimed his dad was the character Optimus Prime.
The court heard today how he had also spoken about being controlled by a clown and voiced ‘unusual’ beliefs about Donald Trump, Adolf Hitler and the Illuminati.
After showing signs of improvement, it was concluded that the episode had been the result of a drug-induced psychosis after he admitted taking bath salts.
He was discharged on February 10 and went back to Wolverhampton with his brother Leon, where he started to voice the same strange and delusional thoughts again.
Police were called to the block of flats after Mr James attacked his sister and mother
Dr Norman Nuttall, a consultant psychiatrist at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, said: ‘Mr James first came into contact with our services in the early hours of February 4.
‘Somebody had phoned the police saying that they had found him walking near a department store which was near to Edinburgh.
‘He was not adequately clothed for the weather, and said that he was going to walk to his family in Wolverhampton.
‘Mr James appeared to be acutely medically unwell at that time.
‘On-call doctors said that it was difficult to understand what he was saying.
‘He appeared to be voicing delusional thoughts which we would have called fanciful.
‘He thought he was a Transformer, from the children’s TV show, and that his father was Optimus Prime.’
Dr Nuttall said Mr James had made reference to having taken ‘alien eggs’ or ‘purple pills’.
‘It was not clear whether he had taken any drugs,’ he said.
‘He had been walking long distances outside without any shoes prior to admission.
‘At 11am on February 4 Mr James became much more agitated.
‘He walked to the door of the ward, which is locked and can only be opened by the nurses on the other side.
‘He was demanding to leave and he was talking about wanting to go back to Birmingham to see his family.
‘He was expressing concerns about the safety of his mother.
‘He became aggressive towards nurses, and that was when he was sectioned under the mental health act.
‘At that time he was acutely disturbed.
‘He did say that he had ingested bath salts in the lead up to his admission.. He did this by dissolving them in water, and then drinking’
The court heard how over the coming days Mr James’ condition continued to improve, and he stated how his previous delusional beliefs were ‘bizarre and clearly false’.
Police scrambled armed riot officers, police dogs and helicopters to the area. They fired stun grenades in an attempt to distract the attacker before Tasering
Dr Nuttall added: ‘He did not have any thoughts about wanting to harm anyone or himself.
‘We felt that there was no need for him to be given more medication.
‘He had been making fairly quick progress, within a matter of days.
‘We were confident that he had had a drug-induced psychosis at this stage.
‘We treated him in good faith. We genuinely felt that he would not require further input, and his treatment was relatively straightforward relative to other patients.’
But as Mr James’ brother Leon drove him back home following his discharge on February 10, he started to voice delusional thoughts again.
At a friend’s house, Mr James ordered that all cameras on phones and tablets be covered up as he feared that he was being watched.
However, as Leon had not been seen a medical expert upon picking his brother up, he was unaware that these were signs that should have referred to a hospital.
Dr Nuttall added: ‘It is unfortunate that Leon James was not properly briefed.
‘I did not ever feel that Mr James presented a risk to other people.’
Pathologist Alexander Kolar told how Anne-Marie was found with 17 stab wounds, which were spotted around the torso and her front and back.
He claimed that there was one wound to the heart which ‘would have been sufficient to cause death by itself, and the other wounds only accelerated the death.’
Meanwhile Mr James himself was found with at least 80 stab wounds, which ‘by their nature could only have been self-inflicted.’
The inquest continues.
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