September 2008 Man who raped schoolgirl after fleeing hospital sent to Broadmoor A mentally ill man who raped a schoolgirl after escaping from a low-security psychiatric hospital had previously been allowed to amass a collection of pornographic and horror DVDs, a court heard yesterday. Darren Harkin, 21, who attacked the 14-year-old girl the morning after absconding, was also taken by staff to the cinema to see horror films and had been allowed unsupervised leave. Judge Nicholas Cooke QC said Harkin was just 12 when in January 2000 he repeatedly stabbed his six-month-old stepbrother David in the head, chest and spine, cutting off the infant’s hand, using a knife from the kitchen of their Hartcliffe home – before walking into a police station to tell officers what he had done. He said he was aghast at the actions of staff at Hayes hospital in Pilning, a village near Bristol. “How on earth could it be thought appropriate that someone who had done such a thing could access horror films? It is difficult to understand,” he told Reading crown court. Leighton Hughes, prosecuting, agreed that the policy “beggars belief”. Harkin, who has schizophrenia and autistic spectrum disorder, yesterday admitted escape from lawful custody, burglary and two counts of rape. Cooke ordered that he should be detained indefinitely at the maximum security Broadmoor hospital. The judge also questioned why hospital staff waited half-an-hour before alerting police when Harkin escaped in February and why neighbouring police forces were not then alerted. Harkin used a kitchen knife to stab his infant stepbrother repeatedly in January 2000 before walking to a local police station and confessing. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was given a hospital order. After periods in various mental health units he was moved, at the start of last year, to Hayes, an independent hospital for adults, managed by the National Autistic Society. The court heard that Harkin met Home Office criteria for transfer to a low-security hospital despite having absconded three times before. Once at Hayes he built up “a vast collection” of DVDs including horror films and pornographic material, the prosecution told the court. One staff member reported that Harkin’s interest was “fuelled” by other hospital workers taking him to watch horror films at the cinema. Other trips saw him taken to a leisure centre and a snooker hall, as well as some unsupervised leave. Early this year, Hughes told the court, Harkin was placed on 24-hour watch after he punched walls and lunged at staff. After he asked a female member of staff for sex it was decided he should not be left alone with female employees. On February 2 Harkin escaped while walking with a group of patients to a kitchen. The staff escorting the group did not press a personal alarm in case this frightened other residents and police were not called until half-an-hour later. Harkin broke into an empty house nearby where he cooked himself a pizza and stole clothes and two knives. The following morning he attacked the girl in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, telling police later he had walked across the Severn Bridge to get there. Brandishing a knife and threatening to kill her he dragged the schoolgirl into a secluded area before raping her. He was arrested soon afterwards. Local police did not know about Harkin as Avon and Somerset police had not notified neighbouring forces of his escape, the court heard. “How can it be that someone is identified as such a risk that they should not be escorted by women alone yet a personal alarm is not activated immediately?” the judge asked. “Any delay was clearly taking a risk which on the face of it was unacceptable.” Michael Fitton QC, defending, said Harkin had a complete inability to empathise with other people and had not been “protected against himself”. The National Autistic Society and Bristol primary care trust have commissioned an independent external review into the case. The society’s chief executive, Mark Lever, said: “We have already committed to making the findings of this review publicly available and we will be acting on the report to ensure that nothing like this can happen again.”