A man with paranoid schizophrenia stabbed a healthcare assistant to death in a low-security mental health unit because he was unhappy at moving to a hospital that had no Wi-Fi and where smoking was banned.
Ryan Matthews, who was serving a life sentence for a double killing at the time of the attack, was given a full life term for the murder of Sharon Wall, whom he stabbed in the back with a kitchen knife in July.
Bristol crown court heard that Matthews, 62, smuggled the knife into Wotton Lawn hospital in Gloucester and attacked Wall, 53, as she made her morning rounds alone.
He gave no explanation for the stabbing but the court heard that he was not happy at the prospect of being moved to a different hospital, which did not allow smoking and had no wireless internet access.
He was being moved to a unit in Cardiff because there were problems with his medication. The court was told that Matthews believed he was possessed by the devil but was in the low-security unit before a possible release.
Sentencing Matthews to a whole-life order, Mr Justice Davis said: “Obviously that man will never be released. Let us hope that he does not kill someone else in some other setting when he does not get his own way.”
An internal investigation recommended that security should be enhanced at the unit and bosses admitted they did not know where the knife had come from.
Shaun Clee, chief executive of the 2gether NHS foundation trust, which runs the unit, said: “We know for a fact the knife was not one of the ’sharps’ on the unit. Those are controlled, they are moderated and we know that they are constantly monitored as to where they are, and they are all accounted for.
“So we know the blade that was used in this attack came from outside the unit and as a consequence we have had a good look at our search policies and processes.”
DCI Steve Porter, who led the investigation, said Matthews had given police no explanation as to why he killed Wall.
“We interviewed Ryan Matthews over three days, seven interviews, and he never answered a single question,” he said. “Shortly before the attack, Matthews had made it known that he did not want to be transferred to Ty Catrin [hospital] in Cardiff. He had been due to move that day, and the day before had said he would not be going.”
The Health and Safety Executive is investigating Wall’s death. In a statement, Wall’s family said she was a “much-loved mother, grandmother, sister and aunt”.
They said: “When she went to work six months ago, we would never have imagined that she would not be returning home that day. She was killed whilst doing something that she loved, caring for others, and she was brutally murdered by someone who she was caring for and trying to help.”
The judge told Matthews: “The true reason you killed this lady is because you have an underlying psychiatric makeup that says to you: ‘I think I will kill this person because I think it will get me what I want.’”
The court heard he fashioned a homemade sheath in which to keep the knife. It emerged that around six months after arriving at Wotton Lawn, Matthews had been found with a shard of plastic he had sharpened to a point, which was confiscated.
Mark Sharman, defending, said: “Mr Matthews has told those who care for him that he purchased the knife some months previously. He purchased it for his own personal protection.”
Matthews was serving a life term for murdering a petty crook and his teenage daughter.
