Femi Nandap: Mentally ill student handed indefinite hospital order for Dr Jeroen Ensink murder

Dr Jeroen Ensink was killed while going out to post cards announcing the birth of his daughter 10 days before

Nadja Ensink, with her husband Dr Jeroen Ensink, on holiday in Egmond aan Zee in the Netherlands (PA)

A student who stabbed a lecturer to death during a psychotic rage has been handed an indefinite hospital order.

Femi Nandap, a 23-year-old Nigerian student, repeatedly stabbed Dr Jeroen Ensink in the chest as he left his flat in Islington, north London in December last year.

The 41-year-old victim had gone out to post cards announcing the birth of his daughter, Fleur, just 10 days before.

When the academic failed to return home, his wife, Nadja Ensink-Teich, went outside to find police had cordoned off the street and the cards her husband had been carrying strewn over the pavement.

Nandap, resident of Woolwich, south London and who had been studying at the London School of Economics,admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility and was handed a hospital order without a time limit.

Femi Nandap (PA)

The prosecution admitted during the hearing at the Old Bailey that a decision to drop charges of possessing a knife and assaulting a police officer six days before the fatal stabbing due to insufficient evidence was an error.

While on conditional bail, it is understood Nandap travelled to Nigeria where he received mental health care, however stopped taking anti-psychotic drugs before he returned to the UK in October, the Telegraph reports.

In August, Nandap's sister has given a letter to police saying he was not fit to travel to the UK because he was suffering from "depression and psychosis".

The court heard Nandap's mental illness began after he began to use cannabis heavily while living in the United States.

Dr Ensink’s wife demanded an inquiry into why the charges had been dropped against Nandap.

Reading her victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing, which she attended with her baby, she called for an independent investigation into failings by both the mental health service and the legal system.

Ms Ensink-Teich told the court: "Not only was the love of my life taken from me, but with him also all of our hopes and dreams," the Mail Online reports.

She added: "If a person with a history of mental health problems is found wandering about with a knife, and attacks a police officer, then that person must be referred to a secure unit for proper assessment and treatment and not given bail so easily.

"This represents a failure of the health and judicial system that should protect the public and care for those with severe mental illness."

Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC described the victim as a “truly remarkable man” whose death “is a loss to a large portion of the world’s poor”.

“I express the hope that those in a position to do so will investigate all aspects of this case and the appropriate lessons will be learned," he said.

Additional reporting by Press Association