Mass killer detained indefinitely after explosives found

Mass killer Harry Street, who shot dead five people in 1978, has been ordered to be detained indefinitely at Birmingham Crown Court after an "arsenal" of guns, bullets and explosives was found at his home last October.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that police had frequent contact with Street, who had become delusional, from 2007 but his background history as a mass killer only emerged after his arrest last October.

Originally called Barry Williams, Street was detained under mental health laws in 1979 for the manslaughter of three neighbours in West Bromwich and a couple who ran a filling station in Warwickshire on October 26, 1978.

Street was due to go on trial today accused of plotting a horrifying re-run of his previous crimes, but prosecutors decided not to proceed with charges alleging that he intended to endanger life after he admitted making explosives.

Ordering the father-of-one to be detained under the Mental Health Act, Mr Justice Blair said of the latest offences: "From perhaps as early as 2007 the defendant began to become obsessed with his next-door neighbours, believing that they were pursuing a campaign of harassment against him.

"This was similar behaviour to that which had preceded the terrible events of 26th October 1978.

"However, the material before the court is to the effect that paranoid or delusional thinking on the defendant's part was not detected at that time."

The judge ordered his sentencing remarks to be provided to health professionals involved in making future assessments of Street's condition.

The judge added: "I do so to record the narrow margin by which the risk of a further tragedy was averted.

"The effect of these orders is that the defendant may never be released."