Dorrell throws his weight behind Broadmoor review

An immediate review of Broadmoor special hospital, in Berkshire, where some of the country's most dangerous criminals are held and said to be at "breaking point", must be completed by the end of the month, the Secretary of State for Health said yesterday.

Earlier, Stephen Dorrell warned that "fashionable ideas" and "misguided liberalism" should not be allowed to compromise security in the hospital whose most famous inmate is Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.

But the mental-health charity Mind said a review would not solve the problems associated with Broadmoor and other special hospitals.The charity is calling for the abolition of large hospitals for housing dangerous psychiatric patients and their replacement with smaller units. Kate Harrison, the legal director of Mind, said: "Newspaper reports would suggest that patients are running Broadmoor. This is ludicrous. It is hard to get somebody less powerful than someone detained under the Mental Health Act."

Glenda Cooper