THE 'GUNMAN' WHO SLIPPED SAFETY CHECK - Richard Hiorns firearm charges - Dad hits out as mental health adviser is jailed for firearms offence

Published: 14 May, 2010
by TOM FOOT

THE father of a vulnerable woman has called for criminal record checks to be made more rigorous after her mental health adviser was jailed for firearms charges.
The Islington resident, who did not want to be named, said his daughter had become close friends with Richard Hiorns, 44, while receiving treatment in the Highgate Mental Health Centre last year.

Hiorns had been working as an adviser despite having a long history of criminal convictions including assault and impersonating a police officer.
He was jailed for three years when he appeared at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday for possessing a firearm and causing alarm during a gun battle with police in the Kiver Road estate last November.

“Our daughter was a patient for a long period at the Highgate Mental Health Centre,” said the father. “She came across Richard Hiorns and became quite friendly with him and even invited him to her flat. The devastation that she felt when this man was involved in a shootout with police has set her back months and she is now very scared to develop new relationships.”

He added: “What checks did the Trust and the user group make to ensure that he was suitable to work with vulnerable people?
“How did he become authorised and validated so that he had official sanction from them?”
During an earlier hearing in March, the court heard how Hiorns drunk up to four bottles of vodka over two days before phoning 999 and threatening to go on shooting rampage.

He fired five shots from his flat in Kiver Road, Upper Holloway, but was later shot in the groin and arm after he pointed a replica handgun at police marksmen. Hiorns was working in the Highgate Mental Health Centre as assistant director of mental health watchdog and advisory group Islington Borough Users Group (iBUG).
The not-for-profit group is promoted by NHS Islington, Islington Council and Camden and Islington Mental Health Foundation Trust.

According to its website, iBUG is “determined that vulnerable adults should be offered the greatest protection possible from harm” and that “we have our Criminal Record Check (CRB) policy and all directors, employees and patients council advisers are CRB checked”.
Among his other many official roles, Hiorns was a former chairman of Islington Clients of Drug and Alcohol Services (ICDAS), which is co-funded by NHS Islington and the council, and was often paid to attend committee meetings organised by the Camden and Islington Foundation Trust. He held an NHS Islington email address and official swipe card and was given an award for his services by NHS Islington chief executive Paula Khan in September 2009.

One source close to the mental health service said: “The Trust knew his history and still allowed him to carry on. It may have been part of his rehabilitation but it represented an unacceptable risk to other patients and staff.”
A spokesman for the Camden and Islington Foundation Trust said: “Our investigation into the incident leading to this sentencing concluded that we had correctly followed all policies and procedures in place at the time, and we have since thoroughly reviewed these. Improvements made in the last eight months include the Trust-wide roll-out of the RiO clinical records system, which allows instant access to all relevant records for clinical teams.

“We always conduct full CRB checks on service users taking on responsibility on our behalf, as do iBUG.
“As Mr Hiorns was acting as vice chair of iBUG, which is an independent organisation representing service users in Islington, we cannot comment on the details of this case.
“Many of our service users have had contact with the criminal justice system, and we consider their CRB report, and the views of our clinicians, when judging whether each new responsibility is appropriate for a service user. We do encourage service users to stretch themselves as a part of their recovery.

“However, the safeguarding of our service users, staff and the wider public is always our overriding consideration in opening up any new responsibility to individuals.”