Subell Ali stabbed his grandmother 20 times two days after he was released from a secure hospital
There were “missed opportunities” to possibly prevent the killing of an 80-year-old woman by her schizophrenic grandson, a coroner has said.
Subell Ali, 34, stabbed his grandmother Somtera Bibi more than 20 times at Ali’s mother’s home in Manor Park, East London, on April 2, 2022. Ali has been detained indefinitely at a secure hospital since March 30, 2023.
The 34-year-old from North London had only been released from a mental hospital two days before the attack, having been first detained in May 2020 for telling police he was hearing voices telling him to “stab people”. He was eventually released from a psychiatric hospital on March 31, 2022.
A court heard in March 2023 that Ali’s mother had heard the attack and had found Ms Bibi in the living room. Ali was found and arrested 10 minutes later at a bus stop covered in his grandmother’s blood.
Local coroner Nadia Persaud has now raised concerns regarding East London Foundation NHS Trust, which she said in a prevention of future deaths report “missed opportunities” to safeguard Ali’s family when he was released from a psychiatric hospital.
The coroner raised concerns that despite Ali making threats of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, possession of weapons and threats to kill family members while he was unwell, there were no safeguarding measures put in place for his family.
The coroner’s assessment also noted that Ali had been convicted for the possession of a knife and threatening behaviour, yet despite the risks over a period of many years, there was no prevention plan, family safety plan or any other significant attempt to protect the family.
While the coroner said that even with a suitable risk management plan, Mrs Bibi’s death may still not have been prevented, she said there was a “missed opportunity to attempt to safeguard her”. In response, the trust said it had identified a number of “learnings” that it was set to implement to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The first of the missed opportunities was that there was no evidence of a response to attempts by police to create a safety plan for Ali’s family, leading to concerns that police communication was at fault. This resulted in a trust-wide communication telling employees expectations around contacting the police.
After an assault on his mother in 2020, no advice was sought from the forensic psychiatric team in light of his previous conviction; therefore, the trust has ensured that referrals can be made directly to a forensic colleague via their secretary.
The third concern was addressed by the trust, which required all staff to complete safeguarding training and issued a Trust-wide newsletter identifying the use of DASH risk assessments as a learning from deaths.
Since the tragic incident, the Trust has also made efforts to collaborate with Local Authority workers through joint forums and regular meetings for mental health services to improve safeguarding.
Finally, East London NHS Foundation Trust said they would ensure they focus on risk assessments in homes, such as identifying risks to the family and mitigating them in the short term while mental health services wait for court approval to section a person. These could include temporarily locking away sharp objects.
A spokesman for the East London NHS Foundation Trust said: “Our deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of Somtera Bibi. Following this tragic incident, work has been undertaken to take learnings from the coroner’s findings. This includes more robust focus on our safeguarding processes and supervision, as well as risk assessment and management. We remain committed to learning from shortcomings and addressing them.”
