Health Services Blamed for Not Identifying At Risk Double Murderer Reoffender

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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A report has claimed that the health services failed to perceive that a man would reoffend as it should have identified the “significant probability that he would reoffend,” speaking about a man who was later convicted of murdering two people. 81-year-old Colin Dunford was attacked by James Allen in his Middlesbrough terrace home, three days after which he stabbed 50-year-old Julie Davison to death at her flat in Whitby, North Yorkshire. Consequently, killings led to a huge manhunt that concluded in Leeds with the suspect’s arrest.

Allen was convicted of murdering his vulnerable victims in April 2012 after a trial at Newcastle crown court and received jailed time for at least 37 years. However, Allen was receiving care from Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, i.e. a provider of mental health services, at time of these offences and so NHS England commissioned an independent investigation by Niche Patient Safety into the health care and treatment provided to Allen. The report concluded that “there were many deficiencies and missed opportunities by both primary and secondary health care services where important information could have been sought and shared,” adding that “if obtained, this information would have enabled a more accurate assessment of Mr F’s risk factors and would have alerted agencies to his potential for reoffending,” it said.

Additionally, the report points out that “there was enough evidence to indicate that Mr F was a vulnerable individual who had significant known risk factors. Therefore, it was Niche’s opinion that services should have identified that there was a significant probability that he would reoffend. What was not predictable was Mr F’s choice of victims in this tragic double homicide.”