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Big discussion amongst the @WMPolice MHTacAds last night on What’s App! - if a detained MHA patient is ‘absent without leave’ from hospital, is that person ‘unlawfully at large’?
- ANSWER: yes, they are.
Short thread ...
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- ANSWER: yes, they are.
Short thread ...
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Whether or not a person is ‘unlawfully at large’, affects powers of entry to premises under s17(1)(d) of PACE —
This allows an officer who is in ‘immediate pursuit’ of someone who is, to force entry and re-detain them, most usually to return them to prison or police custody.
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This allows an officer who is in ‘immediate pursuit’ of someone who is, to force entry and re-detain them, most usually to return them to prison or police custody.
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The question of whether an patient absent from Mental Health Act detention in hospital arose in the case of DPP v D’Souza (1992) and the judges had to consider this question, amongst others.
The court found it beyond question - an AWOL patient is ‘unlawfully at large’.
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The court found it beyond question - an AWOL patient is ‘unlawfully at large’.
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This means, where officers are undertaking enquiries in to a missing / absent patient and see them in public but the patient flees to a nearby building, officers have a power to enter under s17 PACE (if need be, by force) and redetain the person under the MHA.
However! —
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However! —
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It is contingent upon that ‘immediate pursuit’ criteria - the judges did comment this can mean entry “within seconds or a few minutes” but nothing that is pre-planned.
But yes: an AWOL patient is considered ‘unlawfully at large’ for the purposes of PACE powers of entry.
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But yes: an AWOL patient is considered ‘unlawfully at large’ for the purposes of PACE powers of entry.
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