A devastating incident on a psychiatric ward has left two families searching for answers and justice. On 27 November 2021, 63-year-old Richard Laversuch was killed by Owen Herbert, then just 18 years old, at Parklands Hospital in Basingstoke, Hampshire.
The tragic event has been the subject of an inquest hearing in Winchester, where Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust took responsibility for significant lapses in care. The trust's director of quality and professions, Donna Greenwood, expressed her organisation's profound regret to both families, stating that "Richard should have been safe on our wards and he wasn't." She extended an apology to Mr Herbert's parents, acknowledging the harm caused by the trust's failures, saying, "Owen should have been safe in our care... In terms of the impact it's had on him and your families' future, I and the trust are very sorry."
The inquest jury was informed that the trust acknowledged five critical failures that contributed to Mr Laversuch's death. These included a failure to conduct a thorough risk assessment upon Mr Herbert's admission, inadequate staffing levels on the ward, incomplete patient record documentation prior to his admission, and communication breakdowns regarding his placement. Crucially, Ms Greenwood confirmed that these lapses "caused or contributed" to Mr Laversuch's tragic demise.
Evidence presented earlier in the inquest revealed that Mr Herbert was admitted to a lower-risk ward despite being identified as a high-risk patient due to staff shortages at the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), which was operating above capacity. Furthermore, an incident just minutes before Mr Laversuch's death saw Mr Herbert attempt to strangle another patient; however, when staff investigated, they found him in bed and did not consider him a suspect.
Owen Herbert, from Andover, was later given an indefinite hospital order in 2023 after pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The inquest continues to examine the circumstances surrounding Mr Laversuch's death, with further evidence expected to shed light on the events leading up to this tragic incident.