Years of misdiagnosis and 'fobbing off' that led to horror killing

How Colin Neil's mental health struggles ended in family tragedy

- ANDREW BARDSLEY

COLIN Neil loved his dad. They were ‘peas in a pod’, according to his mum, who would watch on as the pair launched into debates about what they had read or watched on TV.

Both shared a keen interest in current affairs and politics, and after catching their latest show, they would often have a frank discussion about what they had heard. “It drove me nuts,” says Monica Neil, who did not share that same keen interest. “That’s why they both got on great. Colin always thought he was right about everything.”

Speaking of her husband John, Colin’s father, Monica added: “He used to say ‘I’m going out of the room now, I’ll leave you to it’.”

Their debates were always good-natured, and didn’t end in acrimony. That Colin would go on to kill his father, in the house in Timperley which the three shared, seems incredible.

But on Sunday, July 9, last year, during a psychotic episode caused by an undiagnosed medical condition, that is exactly what he did. Colin, 52, had been suffering from mental health issues for more than a decade prior to the tragedy. He had once lived independently, had a girlfriend and ran his own IT recruitment business.

He eventually came back to live with his parents after suffering debilitating night terrors, which he found terrifying, and disturbed neighbours at the flat in Sale. He and his parents had repeatedly tried to get him the help he needed.

But it was only after Colin repeatedly hit his 82-year-old father over the head with a hammer, that he was eventually given a correct diagnosis. In the intervening years, he had been misdiagnosed and given medication which didn’t help.

Colin had even been sectioned twice before the killing. Last week, he was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.

The case raises serious questions about whether more could have been done to prevent such a horrifying killing.