Report says killer was a '˜high risk to others'

Ian Dollery, 51, was knifed to death by violent schizophrenic drug addict Robert Kay during a frenzied attack in the garage of his St Annes home.

Kay, 49, knifed Mr Dollery at least 30 times in the head and body after spending the day injecting amphetamines and drinking strong lager.

He was caged for life following the murder in June 2016 when a court heard he had attacked Mr Dollery at random and had never met the victim before.

Yesterday a report commissioned by NHS England into the mental health care of Kay published its findings.

The report by the independent group Caring Solutions reveals that Kay had suffered mental problems since childhood.

But as The Gazette revealed yesterday, the report has already been condemned as a ‘whitewash’ by Mr Dollery’s family.

Kay had 50 criminal convictions, the majority for violent offences including assault and domestic violence as well as public order offences.

The report also reveals Kay had routinely carried a knife since he was attacked in the street as a teenager.

He was also addicted to drugs including amphetamines and heroin and on his arrest was also found to have consumed cannabis and ecstasy.

Despite his mental health problems, Kay refused to attend meetings with counsellors and had not been seen by an expert for nearly two years when he murdered Mr Dollery in cold blood.

He had also failed to attend meetings to address his drug use and had failed to pick up prescriptions for the heroin substitute methadone.

However, the report concludes that no health professionals should bear any responsibility for Mr Dollery’s death.

The report also fails to name Kay, referring to him only as ‘Mr W’.

It says: “Throughout his adult life Mr W was living in the chaotic world of homelessness, substance misuse and poverty and he was often funding his lifestyle through criminality and survival crimes.

“He also had a significant forensic history of serious crimes against property and persons. Additionally, in the months leading up to this incident, Mr W was self-reporting that he was continuing to misuse substances, and it is now unclear how compliant he was with his methadone programme.

“Mr W was also consistently refusing or was unable to engage with a recovery programme provided.

“ Clearly all these factors indicated that Mr W was at high risk both to himself and, based on his forensic history, to others.

“Based on the analysis of the evidence presented, Caring Solutions’ investigation team have concluded that it was highly predictable that Mr W would offend again at some point either to fund his very extensive substance misuse and his unstable mental health.

“Additionally given Mr W’s history it was also highly predictable that he would be involved in violence towards others.

“However, what was not predictable was that Ian Dollery was going to be his victim.

“Tragically, and clearly of little comfort to his family, Ian Dollery just happened to be in his garage at the time when Mr W was walking past.”

Mr Dollery’s wife, Andrea, said: “They are saying it was likely Kay would hurt or kill someone, but they couldn’t predict it would be Ian. If it had not been Ian, it would be someone else. Kay was out of control, a dangerous lunatic.

“This report is nothing more than a whitewash and an attempt by the people involved to cover their own backs.”