Soham: Mental Health Act allows for detention until suspect is fit to stand trial

Under the provisions of the Mental Health Act, the police can detain Ian Huntley for up to 28 days, during which time his condition will be assessed by psychiatrists.

After that, they can apply for a second order extending his detention for six months. Police would have to show that he needs to be held in the interests of his own health or safety, or for the protection of others. Mr Huntley's case was due to be heard this morning at Peterborough magistrates' court, but a spokesman for Rampton high-security hospital said its patient would remain there "for an undetermined stay" .

A defendant who claims to be mentally incapable must obtain proof from medical experts. The Crown Prosecution Service makes separate assessments. If all the experts agreed the person is unfit to plead, the suspect would be detained under the Mental Health Act in a secure hospital.

The defendant would be locked up indefinitely or until he or she was considered fit to stand trial. They could then be charged or released. The Crown could ask for a trial of the facts to determine whether the detained person committed the actions of which he or she was accused. But there would be no finding of guilt.

If there is a dispute over whether the defendant is fit to stand trial then a judge and jury decides the issue. The question of fitness to plead hinges on whether the defendant can instruct his lawyers and is able to understand the legal proceedings.

A defendant who is found fit to stand trial can still plead guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility, which attracts a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Murder attracts a life sentence and does not give the judge the option of imposing a lesser penalty. A plea to manslaughter with diminished responsibility has been more common when mental illness features in a murder trial. The Crown Prosecution Service may not accept this plea and decide to go ahead with a prosecution for murder. The accused can then raise the defence of insanity.

A successful defence of insanity requires the satisfaction of the M'Naghten rules; that the defect of reason either caused the defendant to be unaware of the nature of his act or not to know the act was wrong.

Pleading not guilty by reason of insanity has proved a very difficult defence. But insanity allows the acquittal of those deemed insane at the time of their actions. In the case of the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, in 1981, the court held that a schizophrenic was, for the purposes of English law, sane.