Michael Striker: Killer who changed name arrested in Parramatta
A schizophrenic killer who changed his name and escaped a psychiatric institution will not be charged despite being on the run for three days.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Runaway killer Michael Striker was heading back to a secure mental institution last night after he was found staying at a Parramatta hotel.
Despite being at the centre of a three-day manhunt with police voicing concerns over community safety, he can’t be charged with any offence because he has not broken the law.
Striker, 48, will instead appear before the Mental Health Review Tribunal which will decide his fate after he disappeared from a mental hospital in Orange on Monday.
Striker, who changed his name from Michael Sorrell thinking he could hide his past, had been found not guilty of the murder of Michael Furlong, a stranger whose throat he slashed in 2002, on the grounds of mental illness.
MORE NEWS
Sacked staff score win after Roosters club pay dispute
Why Aboriginal flag will be absent during AFL Indigenous round
Damning report: Aged care staff levels fail world standards
A paranoid schizophrenic who has spent time in Britain’s notorious Broadmoor Hospital for the criminally insane alongside Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, had been an involuntary patient at the Orange mental hospital when he disappeared on day leave on Monday.
He had been detained under the Mental Health Act with the judge who acquitted him of murder in the Supreme Court in 2004, Justice Greg James, warning at the time:
“In the event of any breach of conditions or if any mental condition of the accused deteriorates so he may be a danger, a future order may be made for his apprehension and detention.”
He had fantasised that he had trained as a Navy SEAL and also spent time in high-security psychiatric hospitals in Australia including Perth’s Graylands.
Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told 2GB‘s Ray Hadley yesterday he would be talking to police minister David Elliott “to get him to champion whoever we need to, like health, to make sure he is never released”.
But Mr Elliott said it was no longer a police matter.
“Now that the patient has been apprehended, this case will be reviewed by the Mental Health Review Tribunal, it is no longer a matter for police,” the police minister said.
The NSW Government announced in June that it would change the law so instead of being found not guilty on mental health grounds, judges would be able to find the “act proven but not criminally responsible’.”
However, there is still no criminal conviction against the names of people like Striker.
Minister for Mental Health Bronnie Taylor said yesterday his case would be reviewed by the
Independent Mental Health Review Tribunal, which is responsible for forensic mental health cases in NSW.
“I cannot discuss specific circumstances of any patient who is appearing before the Tribunal due to the requirements under the Mental Health Act 2007.” she said