Family of Victoria Crescent killer tells inquest he should have been in a psychiatric hospital

The family of the Victoria Crescent killer, Damian Rzeszowski, has told an inquest they believe he should have been in a psychiatric hospital rather than prison.

The 37-year-old was found dead in his prison cell, seven years after killing six people at his home in Jersey following a family barbecue in August 2011.

Izabela Rzeszowska (30), Kinga Rzeszowska (five) and Kacper Rzeszowski (two) were stabbed, along with Izabela's father, Marek Garstka (56), and family friends Marta (34) and Julia De La Haye (five).

He was later jailed for 30 years for manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.

Rzeszowski died in the maximum security Full Sutton prison in East Yorkshire on 31 March 2018, two weeks after medical staff decided to refer him to Broadmoor special hospital, an inquest jury heard on Monday.

A statement was read to the court by PC Kalina Tyszeca, a British police officer tasked with talking to Rzeszowski’s parents in Poland.

In the statement, the officer said the killer’s father complained to her about his son’s treatment in prison.

She said he told her “his son should have been in a mental hospital, not a segregation unit, due to his mental health”.

PC Tyszeca said the family were so worried about him that they had been trying to contact the Polish embassy for help.

She said: “He believed his son was mistreated in prison.”

The officer said the family told her Rzeszowski grew up in Poland and had no mental health problems before marrying and moving to Jersey in 2004.

Senior coroner Professor Paul Marks told the jury the sentencing judge in Jersey in 2012 said that, unlike in England and Wales, he did not have the power to send a prisoner to a secure mental hospital, like Broadmoor or Rampton, but expressed the hope it could be facilitated once he was in the UK prison system.

The coroner said it appeared from the records that Rzeszowski spent some time being assessed at Broadmoor at some point while still in custody in Jersey.

Former prison psychiatric nurse Kevin Brennan, who worked at Full Sutton between 2004 and 2022, said a thorough assessment was carried out by a consultant psychiatrist after Rzeszowski got there in 2013 and the decision was made not to refer him to a secure hospital.

Rzeszowski arrived at Full Sutton from London’s Belmarsh Prison and was placed on a programme involving regular supervision by a psychiatrist due to a “severe and enduring diagnosis of psychosis and depression”, Mr Brennan told Hull Coroner’s Court.

He said Rzeszowski’s treatment was scaled down in 2015 after he showed improvements, but, in January 2018, he self-harmed and tried to overdose, resulting in him being placed in segregation under a closer supervision regime.

Mr Brennan said a psychiatrist decided Rzeszowski was showing signs of psychotic illness and, when he did not comply with his medication, a referral was made to Broadmoor special hospital two weeks before his death.

Mr Brennan said normal referrals usually take two to three weeks to action.

The inquest, which is due to last nine days, was adjourned until Tuesday.

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