Writer Janet Cresswell released from Broadmoor after IoS campaign

Janet Cresswell, the award-winning playwright who has languished in Broadmoor for almost 25 years, has been released at the age of 72.

The Independent on Sunday has long campaigned for the release of Ms Cresswell, the oldest woman in the high-security hospital. Her transfer to a medium-secure unit is a victory for this paper, which three years ago revealed there were 400 people in high-security hospitals.

Many should have been released, but are locked up because beds cannot be found for them outside these hospitals. A damning report, to be published tomorrow, will reveal that health authorities are still diverting resources away from mental health services.

Ms Cresswell was denied a transfer because the former secretary, whose play The One Sided Wall was performed at London's Bush Theatre, refused to be supervised by a psychiatrist. She said that she was not mad.