Violent pervert with NO links to Britain who raped a five-year-old girl in his native Bermuda is sent to the UK for taxpayer-funded NHS treatment
- Merrick Seaman was jailed in Bermuda in 2011 for attacking a five-year-old girl
- Court ruled the 33-year-old should be sent to Britain for mental health treatment
- He was judged 'likely' to still be a danger to the community unless action taken
- Seaman told doctors he would go on killing spree if he was ever freed from care
- The British overseas territory lacks high-security accommodation in a hospital
A violent child sex offender who was jailed in Bermuda for attacking a five-year-old girl has been sent to the UK for treatment on the NHS.
Merrick Seaman was transferred to a secure hospital for mental health treatment paid for by the British taxpayer after a court ruled he was still a danger to the community.
The Supreme Court in the British overseas territory ruled the 33-year-old should be transferred to the hospital in Northampton after it was decided he would 'likely' cause harm to the community if no action was taken.
He had been held under the Mental Health Act at the Corrections Department's Co-Educational Facility at Ferry Reach, St George's, in the Caribbean island for three months after he was moved from the high-security Westgate Correctional Facility at Ireland Island North.
Seaman, who suffers from schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, lured the girl into a laundry area in a residential block and subjected her to a sex attack.
Merrick Seaman was transferred from Bermuda to a secure hospital for treatment in the UK after a court ruled he was a danger to the community if no action was taken he told doctors he would go on a killing spree if he was ever freed
He was jailed for eight years in 2011 after he was convicted of a serious sexual assault on the five-year-old girl.
Wayne Caines, the Bermudan Minister of National Security, revealed yesterday that Seaman is now in a UK high-security hospital called St Andrew's.
He said: 'I can confirm that on September 4, Mr Seaman was transferred to a suitable clinical location in the UK for the necessary treatment.
'He is no longer under the care or supervision of the Bermuda Department of Corrections.'
A judge in Bermuda said he needed to be treated in the UK to protect the public as he reached the end of his jail term.
Seaman was eligible for parole in April 2013 but it was recommended that his release should be delayed until the risk of him committing further offences was reduced.
He was given another psychiatric review the following year after he said: 'I intend to go on a killing spree when I get out of jail.'
Then Chief Justice Richard Ground ruled the offender should serve his sentence at Westgate rather than be detained under a Mental Health Act order.
Seaman was convicted of wounding another inmate in 2016, which earned him an extra nine months on his sentence.
His earliest possible release date was June 15 but the Government moved him to the CoEd two days earlier.
St Andrew's Healthcare in Northampton will house Seaman after the Supreme Court in Bermuda ruled he needed mental health treatment
A Supreme Court judgment published in August showed the Ministry of Health and Bermuda Hospitals Board sought a hospital detention order to allow Seaman to be moved to a UK hospital.
Emcee Chekwas, a British psychologist, carried out a risk assessment and recommended that Seaman get further treatment as there was a 'high risk' of further offences.
The expert said: 'The services likely to help him are currently unavailable in Bermuda and, even where intervention abroad could be secured, he will require long-term care.'
The problem of how to deal with prisoners with psychiatric illness has been discussed for years because of the island's lack of high-security accommodation in a hospital.
Seaman was jailed for eight years in 2011 after he was convicted of a serious sexual assault on the five-year-old girl
The Bermuda Government signed an agreement for the transfer of prisoners to the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust in Britain in 2010.
An agreement with St Andrews Healthcare in Northampton was signed in 2017, but the Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) said at the time 'complex legal considerations' still had to be resolved.
Parliament passed legislation in June to help those who need psychiatric treatment in a 'medium or high-security unit not available in Bermuda'.
Kim Wilson, the Minister of Health, said prisoners sent to Britain would be treated free of charge under the National Health Service.
Katina Anagnostakis, a forensic psychiatrist at St Andrew's Healthcare, in Northampton, England, said it was likely Seaman's condition would deteriorate without further treatment.
She said the facility would admit him if the courts in Bermuda and the UK approved the move.
Puisne Judge Shade Subair ruled Seaman could be sent overseas for care and treatment.
She said in a written judgment: 'The wider purpose is to protect the community from further harm, which Seaman would likely cause if not further detained and treated.'
The judge said he should be detained at St Andrew's. Mrs Justice Subair added: 'It would be irresponsible for this court to impose an artificial time limit on the period of Seaman's hospital detainment overseas merely for the sake of defining his term of detention.
'However, this court will review and monitor his progress by receipt of progress reports from the applicants at six-month intervals. A court hearing review on Seaman's mental health prognosis shall also be held one year from now.'
Island courts are also expected to get progress reports on Seaman every six months.
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