David Morgan's Christmas rampage

On 8 December 1994, 17 women were stabbed and slashed whilst Christmas shopping in Rackham's store, Birmingham.

David Morgan, who, since 1988, had been attacking women on a fairly regular basis despite the fact that he had been diagnosed as nuts in 1987, had armed himself with a kitchen knife and a 12-inch butcher's knife. He walked towards Rackhams store in the city centre, swearing at several women along the way, one of whom he kicked.

Arriving at his chosen destination, he took a customer by the shoulder, turned her around and immediately slashed her throat. He progressed in this way throughout the store slashing indiscriminately at the throats of the female customers. He was seen to be calm and rather jovial during this would-be killing spree.

Soon afterwards, he was admitted to Ashworth Mental Health Hospital where a diagnosis of personality disorder was made.

In December 1995, Morgan, who had concocted an improvised knife from a safety razor, slashed the throat of Stephen Messenger, a member of the nursing staff. At this point he was transferred to prison custody.

He was, subsequently, tried in court where headmitted to 11 counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment by Justice Igor Judge, who said:

"You were an evil, brutal and remorseless force, inflicting pain and injury."

Justice Judge recommended that he should not be considered for release until 2008.

A little way down the road, a psychiatric report from a Dr Burke, consultant psychiatrist at St. George's Hospital, said Morgan was suffering from paranoid psychosis and there was no evidence of the previously diagnosed personality disorder.

Another psychiatrist, a Dr Strickland, differed. He opined that Morgan WAS suffering from a psychopathic personality disorder.

Dr Celia Taylor, senior consultant forensic psychiatrist at Broadmoor Hospital, and a Dr Payne, concluded that he was a schizophrenic.

Anyway, when Morgan's case came before the appeal court, under section 37 of the Mental Health Act, the learned judges substituted a Hospital Order for the original life sentence. This, in effect, meant that Morgan could be released just as soon as a psychiatrist similar to any of those cited above said he was no longer a danger to society.

On 18 December 2002, The Birmingham Post reported thus:

"A schizophrenic who slashed 17 women with a knife when he rampaged through a Birmingham department store is set to be allowed out from detention on supervised shopping trips.

David Morgan was given ten life sentences for the terrifying attack at Rackhams eight years ago. He has now been moved from Broadmoor high security hospital to a medium security psychiatric unit in Staffordshire, where he will be allowed out on escorted shopping trips as part of his rehabilitation.

The decision to move Morgan to the Hatherton Centre, in Stafford, sparked anger from the husband of one of his victims. Jan Twining, aged 58, from Knowle, Solihull, needed 17 stitches after Morgan cut her throat.

Describing the trips as outrageous, her husband, Geoff said the authorities should have 'locked him up and thrown away the key'. He also criticised the judicial system for not taking into account the victims.

The escorted visits could pave the way for Morgan's release to a hostel where he will have even more freedom."

By August 2006, David Morgan, who was, by this time, a resident at the Hatherton Centre, a 'semi-secure' unit in St George’s Hospital, Stafford, was out and about wandering amongst unsuspecting shoppers in Stafford town centre. He was even seen drinking alcohol.

A fellow patient told The Sun newspaper:

"He told me, ‘I’m getting off lightly. They let me go where I please’. They think he’s OK to be released but I’m not so sure... He is an unpredictable character. People would be scared to death if they knew who he was."

One of Morgan's victims said:

"Let’s hope the authorities don’t end up with blood on their hands over this."

You couldn't make it up, could you? I bet that none of those who decided that it would be a good idea for Morgan to do the shopping, will be living anywhere near him when he gets out.

Let me tell you what I think our country needs. I think we need to string up about ten thousand of the top turds, who've done so much harm to the rest of us over the last fifty years, and confiscate their wealth. After this has been done, I think we should euthanase characters like Morgan, so that the rest of us can sleep easy in our beds at night. After that, I think we should boil a few criminal low-brows, for the entertainment of Joe Public and to encourage all the other low-brows to keep their heads down for a few decades.

And lastly, I think that about a million robot jobsworths should be dismantled. You know, those Nuremburg-type 'we were only following orders' characters, who kept the whole, dreadful anti-societal shebang on track for so long.

As to what form the dismantling would take, I'd leave that up to the suffering multitudes, although my advice to them would be to invest some of their savings in the local cauldron-maker.

No Birmingham MP ever mentioned David Morgan's rampage in the House of Commons. In fact, no MP at all ever thought to say anything about this incident in the mother of parliaments. Stephen Lawrence, on the other hand, has been mentioned more than a thousand times by more than three hundred and fifty MPs.

Two months before he ran amok in Rackhams, a psychiatrist had said that Morgan, who was confined at the time, was fit to be released back into society.