Killer punched nurse in the head

A MENTAL-HEALTH patient violently assaulted a nurse during his time in hospital, an inquest heard yesterday.

Three months later Jonathan Mills, from Chadderton, was discharged from the secure mental health unit at North Manchester General Hospital. Ten days after that he stabbed talented violinist Michael Kahan to death in a violent, unprovoked attack.

Mr Kahan (39) was walking to a shop near his home in Crumpsall and was stabbed twice.

The inquest heard how paranoid Mills felt he “needed to kill a Jewish person.”

Dr Alistair Stewart, Mills’ psychiatrist until April 2008 told the inquest at Manchester Coroners Court that from the onset of his illness in 2001, Mills had shown “some quite bizarre beliefs about persecution.”

After switching Mills’ medication in 2002, Dr Stewart saw his mental state improve significantly and five years of mental stability followed. The successful drug was reduced to a relatively low level.

But in the summer of 2007, Mills’ mental state was deteriorating and he started drinking. His parents suspected he had stopped taking his medication.

Referring to the fatal stabbing of Mr Kahan, assistant coroner Sally Hatfield asked if it might not have happened if the dose of his medication hadn’t been reduced. Dr Stewart said the level in use was at the “low end” of treatment but explained it was possible Mills would have refused to co-operate had the dose not been lowered.

He added: “It was predictable that in context of his illness that he could be aggressive, but I think it would have been very difficult to foresee an attack of this nature.”

The inquest continues.