Concerns raised over man’s mental health care
By William Smith
Glenn Piggott, 51, from Thetford, Norfolk, has been sentenced after assaulting his partner. He appeared at Norwich Crown Court last week.
While we do not wish to trivialize Mr. Piggott’s offence we would like to point out that this is not a report on another crime but a ‘highlight’ on how mental health services have fallen short yet again.
During the court hearing Recorder Maureen Baker raised concerns that Piggot’s condition had been allowed to deteriorate, despite his efforts to find help.
‘This behavior could have led to much more serious offences’ she said.
Rebecca Wastall, mitigating, said that Piggott had been feeling unwell and was running low on his medication, so he had placed himself under assessment on January 2nd.
Piggot’s son and mother had also been concerned about his behavior but Piggott had not been detained because it was not felt that he was suffering from a psychotic episode, the court heard.
He had previously been under the care of a mental health outreach team, but his condition had stabilized and in order to receive more help from this facility he needed a GP referral in order to return to their care.
His family had been frustrated by the lack of help from services and felt that the offences could have been prevented with the right treatment, Ms Westall said.
Piggott was sentenced to 10 months for affray and three months concurrent for common assault.
‘It’s a great pity that the outreach team did not reach out,’ Recorder Baker said.
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