Camden Domestic Homicide Review OVERVIEW REPORT Into the death of Magda Eriksen1 Hilary McCollum, Independent Domestic Homicide Review Chair and Report Author Report Completed: October 2015 1 Not her real name CONTENTS 1. Preface 2. Introduction 3. The Review Process 4. Narrative Chronology 5. Analysis – Individual Agency Responses 6. Analysis Against Terms of Reference 7. Conclusions 8. Was this homicide preventable? 9. Recommendations Appendices 1. Terms of Reference 2. Combined Chronology 3. Action Plans 4. Glossary of Terms 2 Section One: PREFACE 1. This Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) report examines agency responses to Magda Eriksen2 and her son, Thomas Eriksen3, both residents of Camden, up to the point of Magda’s death in May 2014. 2. Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) were established on a statutory basis under Section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act (2004). The Act states that a DHR should be: ‘A review of the circumstances in which the death of a person aged 16 years or over has, or appears to have resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by – a) A person to whom (s)he was related or with whom (s)he was or had been in an intimate relationship or b) a member of the same household as himself/herself’ 3. The key purposes for undertaking DHRs4 are to: Establish what lessons are to be learned from the domestic homicide regarding the way in which local professionals and organisations work individually and together to safeguard victims; Identify clearly what those lessons are both within and between agencies, how and within what timescales they will be acted on, and what is expected to change as a result; Apply these lessons to service responses including changes to policies and procedures as appropriate; and Prevent domestic violence homicide and improve service responses for all domestic violence victims and their children through improved intra and inter-agency working. 4. This review was initiated by the Chair of the Camden Community Safety Partnership in compliance with the legislation. The review process followed the Home Office statutory guidance. 5. The Independent Chair and DHR Panel extend their thanks to everyone who has contributed to the deliberations of the Review. 6. The Chair of the Review thanks all of the members of the Review Panel and Individual Management Review (IMR) authors for the professional manner in which they have conducted the Review. 7. The Independent Chair and the DHR Panel members offer their deepest sympathy to all who have been affected by the death of Magda. 2 Not her real name 3 Not his real name 4 Home Office, 2011, Multi-Agency Statutory Guidance for the Conduct of Domestic Homicide Reviews, p6, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statutory-guidance-for-the- conduct-of-domestic-homicide-reviews 3 Section Two: INTRODUCTION 8. This Overview Report examines agency responses and support given to Magda Eriksen, an adult resident of Camden, and her son, Thomas Eriksen, also of Camden. The report covers the period between 1 January 2000 and the death of Magda Eriksen in May 2014 for both Magda and Thomas. A number of earlier events are included where relevant. 9. The table below sets out the family members involved in this review. Name Age at the Relationship point of the murder Magda ERIKSEN 67 Victim Thomas ERIKSEN 44 Son / Perpetrator 10. Address 1 is the privately owned flat in Camden where Magda had lived for more than two decades. Thomas had spent part of his childhood there and would come and stay with his mother when he was struggling with his mental health. He was living there at the time of the homicide. Address 2 is the council flat in Camden where Thomas lived on his own. ABOUT CAMDEN 11. Camden is an inner London borough with a population of approximately 220,0005. It includes the areas of Holborn, Kentish Town, Camden Town, Belsize Park and Hampstead among others. It is composed of commercial and residential land and has 39 conservation areas, covering half the borough. It includes a number of cultural and leisure attractions within its boundaries including the British Library, British Museum, London Zoo, Hampstead Heath, Camden Market and parts of Covent Garden. It is an ethnically diverse area and more than 40% of the population was born outside the UK6. Camden has one of the highest rates of child poverty in London7. 12. The crime rate in Camden is one of the highest in London8. In 2014, when Magda was killed, there were a total of 3066 domestic violence reports made to the Metropolitan Police in Camden. Of these, 1393 were recorded as crimes with the remaining 1673 logged as non-crime domestic incidents. This was below the London average (based on the total number of domestic incidents and offences recorded by the Metropolitan Police divided by 32 (boroughs covered)). In common with many local areas, Camden has a MARAC and an IDVA service. 5 http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org.uk/indicators/boroughs/camden/ 6 http://www.cscb- new.co.uk/downloads/reports_research/2011_Census_Key_Stats_and_Quick_Stats_for_Ca mden[1].pdf 7 http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/london/poverty-in-your-area/camden-20/ 8 http://maps.met.police.uk 4 13. The proportion of people registered with their GP as having a serious mental illness (via the Quality and Outcomes Framework) is significantly higher in Camden than the London and England averages, and the third highest across England. In 2012, 3400 people were recorded on QOF registers for serious mental illness, representing 1.3% of the population. SUMMARY OF THE CASE 14. Magda Eriksen was a Russian woman in her sixties who had lived in London since the early 1970s. She lived alone in a privately owned ground floor flat in Camden (Address 1). Her son, Thomas, would come and stay with her when he was struggling with his mental health. She was described by friends and neighbours as a colourful, independent and somewhat eccentric woman who was very much part of the local community. She had a keen interest in alternative health practices. She could be difficult and challenging, both with neighbours and health services. 15. Magda was born in the Soviet Union in 1946 and was raised there during the communist era. She met her husband, a Danish national, in the Soviet Union during the 1960s and moved with him to Denmark. Their son, Thomas, was born in Denmark in 1970. The family moved to London around 1973, where Mr. Eriksen built a successful business. 16. Magda and her husband separated and divorced when Thomas was ten years old, with Thomas remaining with his mother. Mr. Eriksen subsequently relocated to Spain and had little contact with his son. 17. Magda worked as a Russian language journalist and for a national broadcaster, helping to identify locations for filming in Russia. She owned properties in St. Petersburg and Moscow from which she derived rental income. 18. Thomas Eriksen was a long-term user of mental health services. His first contact was in early 1994 when he was formally admitted to a psychiatric hospital under the Mental Health Act.9 He had eleven admissions, both formal and informal, between 1994 and 2002 and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. His relapses tended to follow a pattern of him spending large amounts of time listening to loud music, increasing his use of alcohol and illicit substances and becoming aggressive, hostile and irritable. 9 The Mental Health Act 1983 makes provision for people to be admitted, detained and treated in hospital without their consent because they are considered by mental health professionals to be a danger to themselves and/or others. Admissions under the Act are referred to as ‘formal’ admissions. Individuals may also voluntarily agree to be admitted to psychiatric care. These are referred to as ‘informal’ admissions. The rights of people are different depending whether they have been admitted formally or informally. Less than half of people in psychiatric wards are formally detained. (MIND suggest about 25% of patients are formally detained http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/legal-rights/mental-health- act-the- mind-guide/#.VCGC_ZRdWO0. Figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (2013 Bulletin) show that around 45% of patients whose records were in Mental Health Minimum Dataset returns were formally detained during the 2012/13 reporting year. http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB12745). 5 19. In 1996, he smashed all the windows at Magda’s flat. In 2000, he was arrested and remanded in custody after threatening a psychiatrist with a combat knife. The charge was withdrawn at court on the grounds of Thomas’s mental health. 20. In December 2001, he was voluntarily admitted after fearing that he might stab a neighbour. He again asked for admission in November 2002 as he was not coping and was hearing voices calling him the devil. This was agreed. This was his last admission until after his mother’s death. 21. Thomas did not request another admission to a psychiatric ward until two days before he killed his mother in May 2014. Neither was he compulsorily detained during this period. From 2002 until 2014 he was supported in the community by mental health services provided by Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust.10 He was living by then at Address 2, a one-bedroom council flat in a busy area of central London. He frequently disengaged with services. With the encouragement of his mother, he did not take medication for his psychosis. In interview for this review, he said that he managed by keeping busy and visiting the British Museum and art galleries. 22. He had little contact with services other than community mental health throughout this period, although he was arrested in 2007 after smashing nine panes of glass with a hammer at Horse Guards Parade.