Public hearing for Broadmoor man

27 September 2011 Last updated at 05:09 ET

Mr Haines’s lawyers will argue he should be released from Broadmoor, under conditions.

A man held in secure hospitals for 25 years will become the first psychiatric patient to have an appeal against detention heard in public.

Albert Haines, 52, successfully argued his case should be considered at an open hearing after saying he wanted to expose alleged failings in the system.

He was convicted for attempted wounding in 1986 and has been detained since.

Mr Haines’s lawyers will argue at a London tribunal he should be released from Broadmoor, under conditions.

An estimated 100,000 mental health tribunals have been held in the past seven years, but out of these there were only 10 applications for the hearing to be held in public.

Most dangerous criminals

Only one previous application for an open session was granted and this was later withdrawn, meaning Mr Haines has achieved a legal first.

Mr Haines told a national newspaper: “I don’t want to be involved with mental healthcare anymore. I want to be able to recover.

“I can’t support a system that bullies into being who they want to be.

“I don’t dispute I have problems, but I dispute that I have mental health problems.”

Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital in Crowthorne, Berkshire, is home to some of Britain’s most dangerous criminals, including Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and serial killer Robert Napper.

West London Mental Health NHS Trust, which runs Broadmoor, declined to comment ahead of the hearing.

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