Christina Edkins: How the tragedy unfolded and questions posed by fresh inquiry
It was a killing which rocked a community and posed many questions over how such a tragedy could happen.
School girl Christina Edkins was making a familiar journey to her school on the busy number 9 bus.
As the double-decker bus pulled up at a stop her life was taken in the most shocking of circumstances.
An independent review into the treatment of a paranoid schizophrenic behind her death was published today.
NHS England commissioned the investigation over the death of Christina Edkins.
The 16-year-old was stabbed to death in Birmingham while on her way to Leasowes High School, in Halesowen, in March 2013 by Phillip Simelane.
He was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act after pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Dr David Levy, regional medical director at NHS England revealed the report on the independent investigation at 12pm.
What happened?
The 16-year-old was stabbed on-board the number 9 bus as she made her way to Leasowes High School, in Halesowen, to take a GCSE mock exam.
She suffered a single stab wound as she sat in the top deck of the packed bus while it made its way along Hagley Road close to Five Ways, in Birmingham.
The attack happened at about 7.37am on March 7, 2013.
Passengers performed CPR, and the bus driver phoned police and paramedics, but despite their attempts nothing could be done to save her.
A manhunt was immediately launched and officers combed the area for the suspect. The road was closed.
A man was eventually arrested and taken away at 12.30pm after being spotted acting suspiciously at the back of a Morrisons supermarket nearby.
Christina Edkins
Colourful, courageous, charming, creative and charismatic - just some of the words used to describe tragic school girl Christina Edkins.
Christina, aged 16, lived in the Ladywood area of Birmingham, and had been a student at Leasowes High School.
Her family spoke warmly of her ambitions to become a midwife.
Her parents Kathleen and Jason, brother Ryan and half-sister Joanne said they were “heartbroken and devastated” in a statement released after the attack.
“Our family and friends knew her as an amazing individual with her whole life ahead of her which was tragically taken away," they said.
"Our lives will never be the same again.
“Our daughter was the most beautiful, intelligent and bright young lady.”
The family added they were overwhelmed by the kindness shown by friends and neighbours as well as people who had never met her in the wake of the tragedy.
"Christina would be very proud of each and every one of you; it is heartbreaking she is not here to see it,” they said.
The community rallied round with supermarket Asda announcing staff had helped raised thousands in collections.
A book of condolence was opened at St Peter’s Church in Lapal, Halesowen.
A £10,000 memorial garden was unveiled in her memory of at St Edmund's Catholic Primary School, Springhill, Birmingham, which she attended from the age of three.
An engraved memorial stone was also revealed at Leasowes High School by teachers and pupils. They established an special award in her honour.
WATCH: Tributes paid as memorial garden opened
Phillip Simelane
Simelane was born in Swaziland and had moved to the Midlands when he was nine.
Police revealed Simelane was freed from prison less than three months before the attack.
Simelane had been released on December 13 – exactly 12 weeks before he attacked Christina.
He was in prison for breach of licence with regard to vehicle interference and cocaine possession. It emerged Simelane had been homeless after he was released.
He had a total of seven previous convictions and had previously served a prison sentence for threatening his own mother with a knife.
He also punched a police officer during his arrest.
Police had received 21 calls from his mother about his behaviour in some 10 years.
They included criminal damage and rows with siblings.
On the Police National Computer, Simelane was listed as having mental health issues and being a suicide risk, but officers could not say when the ‘warning markers’ were added.
Simelane had been on the bus for two and a half hours and when challenged by the driver produced a valid travel pass.
It was later revealed this did not belong to him and the court heard he said he had got on the bus to sleep and keep warm.
Simelane plunged a knife, between 10 and 12 inches long, into the chest of the 16-year-old as she sat on the top deck of the number nine bus in a random attack.
He then casually walked down the stairs and stepped off at a bus stop.
Simelane, then aged 23, of Walsall, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Christina on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
He had been accused of murder but the Crown Prosecution Service and Christina’s family accepted his manslaughter plea following reports on his mental health.
He was detained indefinitely under the mental act after a court heard he was paranoid schizophrenic.
Review into the case and questions still to be answered
Following Christina’s death, the then Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to commit to a review of knife laws as he spoke of his revulsion at the ‘horrific crime’.
Knife amnesty bins were introduced by late West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Bob Jones.
Halesowen and Rowley Regis MP James Morris also petitioned for sentences to be toughened for those people found carrying knives.
Bosses at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, which assessed Simelane in prison, vowed to carry out a ‘through investigation’ into the circumstances around his care.
The review was commissioned by Birmingham Cross City Clinical Commissioning Group, on behalf of all the parties involved.
It was published in September 2014 uncovered short-comings from major agencies – including Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and the Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
The chairman of the investigation panel, Dr Alison Reed, said there had been 'missed opportunities' but claimed the attack was 'random and unprovoked and therefore it could not have been predicted'.
The report found:
There were 19 'incidents of risk' involving Simelane, including threats made against his family starting in 2008 and ending in 2012 when he spoke about stabbing his mother while on oath during a court case.
The review also uncovered short-comings in the sharing of information on Simelane’s mental health problems between agencies set up to support him. It has urgently called for better co-operation between the organisations.
After imprisonment in July 2012 at HMP Hewell for threatening his mother, the report found Simelane’s GP was not told he had been sent to prison or about concerns raised over his mental health while inside.
A requested re-assessment for admission to psychiatric hospital detention for Simelane was requested by the forensic specialist registrar at the prison ahead of his release, but this was not followed up and he was allowed out with three days’ supply of medication.
Within a month of release he was remanded into HMP Birmingham after being found interfering with vehicles in a car park next to Walsall Police Station. The report said the release of Simelane from HMP Birmingham on December 12, in 2012 was ‘unexpected and at short notice’.
A request for him to see a prison consultant psychiatrist during his stay was made – but it was only on the day of his release that he had an appointment.
He was released with no appointment with Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust’s homeless team and with just £46 in his pocket.
He gave an address on his release – but this was a bail address. The report said because it was ‘a normal sounding address, it was not questioned’.
Following Simelane’s attack on Christina, he was assessed by two consultant forensic psychiatrists from the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust. They found he was mentally ill and should be detained under the Mental Health Act.
The report authors went further to have sympathy for Simelane’s mother, who they said made ‘repeated attempts’ to secure help for her son, but they ‘too often went unheeded’.
The findings prompted Christina's family to demand for a further inquiry to hold those responsible to account.
NHS England revealed in November 2014 that it would conduct a fresh inquiry because of the findings of the earlier investigation and prompted by the family's wishes.
One of the main questions the family want answered from the new inquiry includes why was Simelane allowed to leave prison unsupervised?
