Christopher Clunis Report: Widow tells Bottomley 'to act now'

JAYNE ZITO said the Secretary of State for Health, Virginia Bottomley, should be 'accountable' for the death of her husband, Jonathan, who was stabbed to death by Christopher Clunis 14 months ago.

And she challenged Mrs Bottomley to act on the report, saying that unless more money was invested in care for the mentally ill, the inquiry would have been a waste of public funds.

Her voice rising with emotion, and with tears in her eyes, Mrs Zito, 29, said the memory of her husband was driving her on.

She said: 'The report is excellent . . . in providing recommendations and proposals the Government should have done years ago - where have they been?

'The result is people have been living in degradation and poverty and people like Christopher Clunis are on the streets and they kill people. I am holding Virginia Bottomley accountable for the murder of Jonathan Zito.'

Mrs Zito had been married for only three months to her 27-year-old husband when he was killed. 'Unless she follows the recommendations and proposals in this report she is failing me, she is failing all the people who have got a mental health problem.

'Get your act together, Virginia Bottomley, and do something about the report,' she said.