MANSLAUGHTER – A paranoid schizophrenic who kicked a female custody officer to death has been freed just two years after he was given an indefinite psychiatric hospital order.
Humphrey Burke, 30, caused Lorraine Barwell ‘catastrophic’ brain injuries by twice kicking her in the head ‘like a football’ in June 2015.
He Admitted his Crime
Burke admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility and was handed an indefinite hospital order at the Old Bailey in January last year – the same sentence given to Nottingham stabbing killer Valdo Calocane.
In shocking new pictures the killer, 30, was seen working out unsupervised in a packed boxing gym and casually strolling to the shops to pick up his groceries.
Just like the families of Calocane’s Nottingham rampage Ms Barwell’s relatives say they believed he would never be released.
Victim’s Family Fury
Lorraine’s brother Paul Kirkley, 53, told The Sun: ‘How can Burke stamp my sister to death and just be out in the supermarket and going to the gym years later like nothing has happened?
‘We wanted a murder conviction at the time and look at what’s happened. As soon as they get diminished [responsibility verdict], they are on an easy life. That’s not justice for my sister.
It’s the same for the poor families of those Nottingham victims — they are rightfully furious about what has gone on. They will now see this and be living in fear that the monster who took their family will be back on the streets in years.’
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He added that seeing the monster shopping at the Oxford Coop and Sainsbury’s mad him ‘feel sick’ – as he raged the killer is ‘making a mockery of the system’.
Details of the Attack
The attack happened while Burke was being escorted from Blackfriars Crown Court, London, in handcuffs after appearing to be sentenced for attempted robbery, criminal damage and arson.
She Suffered Before her Death
The first blow knocked the 54-year-old grandmother to her knees and the second fractured her jaw, causing a brain haemorrhage.
Ms Barwell from Romford, Essex, died two days later on July 1, after her life support machine was switched off.
Burke, who dropped out of a law and philosophy course at Oxford Brookes University in 2014, had previously been mentally unfit to stand trial over the death.
After the attack on Ms Barwell, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was initially found unfit to stand trial.
