PM will 'certainly look into' changing Mental Capacity Act after autistic man killed in own home

The Prime Minister has been urged to change the law on mental capacity assessments, following the murder of an autistic man in his own home, as ITV News Political Correspondent Romilly Weeks reports

The prime minister has confirmed he'll "certainly look into" a law change to the way mental capacity assessments are carried out, after ITV News revealed some vulnerable adults are not getting the support they urgently need.

Sir Keir Starmer was asked at Prime Minister's Questions about the case of 24-year-old Christopher Laskaris, an autistic man who was exploited and ultimately murdered in his own home by a convicted criminal.

Despite years of his mother Fiona pleading for help for her vulnerable adult son, he was never given a mental capacity assessment to determine the help he desperately needed.

MPs from all three main political parties are now urging the government to make a key change to the new Mental Health Bill that would ensure the views of family members are taken into account when deciding whether an adult needs a mental capacity assessment.

They - along with the National Autistic Society and other experts - say the current system is failing some autistic adults, people with learning disabilities and others with mental health illnesses who are not receiving the help they need, which is at times leading to fatal consequences.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Ed Davey told the Commons: "Christopher never got the support that might have saved his life.

"We're going to try to change the law so families' concerns over a loved one's mental capacity have to be considered. Will the prime minister give his personal backing to that change to stop another tragedy like Christopher's?"

The prime minister replied: "I thank him for raising that terrible case and I think the thoughts of the whole house will be with Christopher's family and friends affected by this. And we'll certainly look into what else we can do.

"And if there's further details that have been given to me of the particular case, I'll make sure that we follow it up."

'Losing a child is the worst thing that can happen to anyone, but I think a preventable death is the very worst,' Fiona Laskaris previously told ITV News. Watch Political Correspondent Romilly Weeks' report:

It comes after Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he "absolutely" agrees with the MPs that "this is an issue" that needs looking into.

The MPs campaigning for this change, Jeremy Hunt (Conservative), Chris Coghlan (Lib Dem) and Jake Richards (Labour), say the time to act is now while the Mental Health Bill is currently making its way through Parliament.

They and charities are concerned there are potentially hundreds of preventable deaths per year due to this issue, with recent research by King's College London finding The Mental Capacity Act was not followed in a quarter of the deaths of autistic people and those with learning disabilities in 2022.

Following the exchange in the Commons, Fiona told ITV News she's "so grateful" the Lib Dems leader brought her son's case up at PMQs.

"I really hope, from the prime minister’s positive response, that the government will prioritise making the legislative changes so desperately needed to ensure that other vulnerable autistic people like Christopher can live the safe and fulfilled lives they deserve, and that no one else has to go through the horror that we have," she added.

What is the Mental Capacity Act?

The Mental Capacity Act was introduced in 2005 in a bid to minimise the number of vulnerable adults being detained unreasonably and indefinitely, and to give them more autonomy over their own care.

It states that as a starting point everyone should be presumed to have the capacity to make their own decisions about their own safety and wellbeing, and that assessment should be carried out if their capacity is in doubt.

However, research has found that such assessments are either not carried out enough or are not carried out effectively in particular on autistic people, adults with learning disabilities or those with mental health issues, such as bipolar and schizophrenia.

Their insistence that they can cope is often taken at face value without considering their past history and relatives’ concerns. This means that - as in Christopher Laskaris' case - they are left without the support they need.

“One of the problems in Christopher's case was that when mental capacity assessments should have been carried out, they weren't, because they were just assuming that he had capacity,” his mother Fiona previously told ITV News.

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“They were taking his responses at face value and they weren't checking that he fully understood the decisions he was making and the likely consequences of making them…

“And Christopher wanted to please people around him. So, if people were saying to him ‘you don't need support, do you?’, he'd just say, ‘yes, I'm fine’.”

She added: “I just tried everything I could for years and years, trying to get him the help and support he needed, trying to get him down here [to Surrey]… I was constantly having to ring up the police just to check he was okay. For any mother to be left in that position with a vulnerable child - the anguish, it's the sort of worst torture you can inflict on a mother.

“And that's why I want the law changed. I want parents listened to so that no one else has to go through this - years and years of trying to get help for your disabled child.”

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To hear more about Christopher's life and the Mental Capacity Act, listen to the second podcast episode below to find out What You Need To Know...