Escaped killer unit 'must change'

Harkin raped a teenage girl after escaping from the low-security unit

A mental health unit from which an autistic man absconded and raped a girl should no longer house high-risk patients, a report has recommended.

Darren Harkin, 21, raped his 14-year-old victim after leaving The Hayes at Pilning near Bristol, where he had been detained under the Mental Health Act.

He had been at the unit for over a year after killing his baby stepbrother.

The National Autistic Society, which runs The Hayes, said it would act on all of the report's recommendations.

The independent study, led by Dr Ekkehart Staufenberg, called for some high-risk patients to leave the unit and suggested its safety procedures should be changed immediately.

A more thorough assessment of Harkin, who is now in Broadmoor maximum security hospital, was also recommended.

This was an absolutely terrible incident and it's one that we all deeply regret Mark Lever

Harkin was first arrested in 2000 in the Hartcliffe area of Bristol, aged 12, after stabbing his six-month-old stepbrother to death.

He was given a hospital order after pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility at Bristol Crown Court in April 2001.

He spent just over a year at The Hayes, a low-security facility which treats patients with autism who have been detained under the Mental Health Act.

Harkin dragged the schoolgirl off the street at knifepoint in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, in February.

In court, after the rape, it emerged that Harkin had a large collection of pornographic and horror films.

Questions were raised about why staff at the hospital had waited 30 minutes before reporting him missing.

Chief executive of the National Autistic Society Mark Lever told BBC News that the report's recommendations would be acted on.

"This was an absolutely terrible incident and it's one that we all deeply regret," he said.

"We accept all of the recommendations and I will be making sure we carry them out. Indeed we've started on them already."