Shropshire woman's bid to keep killer dad locked up
A fearful woman hoping to keep her killer father in a secure hospital has received the backing of about 9,000 people after launching a campaign.
Faye Howlett, from Whitchurch, wants to keep her father Kevin Roberts locked up in a secure hospital in Birmingham.
Mr Roberts, who is also from Whitchurch, was detained indefinitely after he beat his 73-year-old mother, Vera, to death with a metal poker and hammer attack in 2005.
The schizophrenic, 54, admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Ms Howlett has since launched a petition to keep him locked up after she discovered he had been allowed to go shopping in Birmingham and has visited her grandmother's grave.
About 1,500 people have signed an online petition with a further 1,500 signing forms which have been placed in pubs and shops throughout Whitchurch. Meanwhile more than 6,600 people have joined a Facebook page called Keep This Man Off The Streets.
Mother-of-one Ms Howlett said: "I am overwhelmed by all the support and I want to say a big thank you to everyone in the local community and to all the shops and pubs that have supported me."
She added: "This is a very scary time for us and this something I will always fight because I'm living in fear of my life. My dad has a violent past and he knows how I feel about him. I feel he could come and kill me and I know he will see me campaigning and it will make him angry.
"I'm trying to do what is right for me and my daughter. I'm trying to do as much as I can to keep this man off the streets for our safety and for the safety of people in Whitchurch."
Ms Howlett discovered her father had temporarily left Birmingham's Reaside Clinic when she found a teddy bear bearing the word "Mum" on her grandmother's grave on Boxing Day.
The Ministry of Justice said decisions to allow leave were "only taken after a full risk assessment". Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the clinic, said their patient assessments were "thorough".
The spokesman said: "The trust has a legal duty of patient confidentiality and as such we are unable to comment on individuals.
"However, we can advise that the role of mental health services includes working to support all patients in their rehabilitation, and as part of this work patients are continually assessed for leave and ultimately discharge from inpatient services. In the case of any restricted patients, this process is even more thorough."
However, Ms Howlett said she believes her father will kill again.
She said: "When I saw the bear I knew that was his way of letting us know he's around. I rang the clinic and asked them if my dad was allowed to leave. They told me he could go and buy a paper and he can choose to have two hours of freedom to go shopping in Birmingham."
