Cawdery killings: PSNI should have been with killer, nurse says
- Published
Marjorie and Michael Cawdery were killed in a stabbing at their home in Portadown, County Armagh, in 2017
A nurse at Craigavon Area Hospital has told an inquest the police "should have been there" when she examined a man who went on to kill an elderly couple.
Michael and Marjorie Cawdery, both 83, were killed in a "frenzied attack" in their County Armagh home in May 2017.
Their killer, Thomas Scott McEntee, was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
He was brought to Craigavon hospital on 26 May after police found him running naked near Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry, County Down.
A short time later he absconded from the hospital grounds before stabbing Mr and Mrs Cawdery to death.
He was sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison.
Gemma Skeath, one of the nurses triaging patients arriving by ambulance that day, said when McEntee was handed over to her she was not aware of the seriousness of the situation.
She said she was not given any information about police involvement or that the patient was potentially psychotic.
Restrained by police
Ms Skeath accepted these details were written in the patient report form filled out by ambulance staff, but both she and her colleague Lindsay Trimble said this would not be the first thing they looked at.
"We gather our initial information from the patient and the verbal handover," nurse Trimble said.
Ms Skeith said details about McEntee having to be restrained by police were not recounted by ambulance staff during the verbal handover.
She said this was unusual.
She also said she would now read patient report forms.
Thomas Scott McEntee at an earlier court hearing
Both nurses told the inquest they thought they were dealing with someone at risk of self-harming.
They said McEntee was compliant and answered their questions during the consultation.
Nothing in his behaviour had raised "red flags", they said.
It was only when Ms Skeith went to take his blood that his behaviour changed.
"It was as if his personality had changed," she said.
Before she had a chance to get the needle in a vein in his arm he told her it "wasn't right" and they fought over the needle.
That was when he walked out. When she called him back he didn't respond, she said.
Although she was concerned about his mental state she said there was nothing she could do to stop him.
"Police are the only people who can physically restrain," she told the inquest.
Risk of self-harm
Nurse Skeath then contacted the sister in charge - Sister Ciara Loughran - to activate the Southern Trust's absconding protocol.
Their primary concerns were that McEntee had consumed alcohol, he was at risk of deliberate self-harm and needed to be brought back to the hospital for assessment.
Sister Loughran said she was unsure of the exact amount of time it took her to complete all the steps required before phoning the police but thought it was less than 30 minutes.
When asked if she could have completed the protocol any faster. She said she could not have and stressed that the task "got her 100% attention.".
Two witness statements from police officers on duty in Lurgan on the day of the murders were also read to the inquest.
They described how at just before 17.00 BST that evening they received a call about a man self-harming in a field near some houses.
This was more than an hour after the murders of Mr and Mrs Cawdery had been reported.
The officers said he was surrounded by cows and had identified himself as Thomas McEntee.
They said a metal kitchen knife was recovered from his belt and his behaviour was "very erratic and weird, rambling on about God".
The inquest continues.
- Published12 June 2023
- Published14 June 2023