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THE DISTURBING CASE OF ARNOLD McCARDLE

The Whistle 24 featured the misuse of a diagnosis of mental illness made without a competent medical examination, when the General Medical Council used an improper diagnosis in legal arguments against Dr Rita Pal. Here's a more extreme case.

The late Arnold McCardle was compulsorily detained in the secure Carstairs State Hospital, was taken back there even after the Scottish Appeal Court ruled that his detention was unlawful, and died there even after he had written that he was in fear for his life.

Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers has compiled dossier of allegations against solicitors, advocates, sheriffs and judges. (The full details are at: http://www.sacl.info/rogues.htm).

The sheriff ordered, on 11 February 2002, that Mr McCardle be detained in the secure hospital (rather than proceed with his criminal trial). Ann Mallaby, a human rights worker who has been pursuing his case with the Scottish parliament and elsewhere, wrote:

"Andy was originally held on remand pending a criminal trial with a jury. The charges were trumped-up by Strathclyde police, on whom he was blowing the whistle for their involvement in drug dealing (recently proven). Andy was defamed in the newspapers, prejudicing the forthcoming trial. The trial never proceeded because the Sheriff illegally pronounced him insane and sent him to Carstairs. Psychiatrists labelled him delusional for making criminal allegations against Strathclyde police. Lawyers closed ranks and refused to act on his instructions, forcing him to represent himself. He made applications to the criminal appeal court (High Court of Justiciary); used the mental health complaints procedure; and applied to the ECHR."

On 5th December 2003 the Scottish Appeal Court ruled that his detention was unlawful (http://www.sacl.info/judges3.jpg). Nevertheless he was taken back to the hospital.

Shortly before his death he wrote a letter including the following statement:

"I have made it absolutely clear that I have held the steadfast belief that I was sent here in 2002 to be silenced, PERHAPS MURDERED, nothing that has taken place here since my arrival has given me cause to alter my beliefs."

He died on 26th December 2004. Ann Mallaby wrote shortly afterwards:

"Andy died at 6.00 pm, in the presence of Carstairs staff. The alleged cause of death was inhalation of gastric contents, clogging of the arteries and cardiac insufficiency. There was no reporting of the severe facial injuries suffered by Andy at the time

of death. The Procurator Fiscal is unwilling to discuss the unreported injuries and the failure of Carstairs, the police and the pathologist to report them. He also refuses to provide us with a copy of the Post Mortem results. He has agreed to ask the Sheriff for permission for a FAI (Fatal Accident Inquiry). However, FAIs are regarded, by ENABLE, to be ineffective time and money-wasting procedures. We are pressing for a criminal investigation of Carstairs staff, undertaken by an outside police force. We are, in any case, conducting our own investigation.

"There is increasing evidence of abuse, sadism and torture of legitimate inmates of Carstairs Mental Hospital (as in other mental hospitals). Political prisoners are also being held in these institutions and the evidence suggests that there is a licence to kill. Indefinite detention under the Mental Health Act is a means of silencing whistleblowers. Many people now live in fear of police and the men in white coats.

"We feel that, not only have mental health laws been misused and need urgent review, but that the whole system has been corrupted and persecution of whistleblowers is widespread. The crux of the matter, I believe, is the government's failure to tackle corruption."

Subsequently Strathclyde CID officers have conducted an undercover investigation in Carstairs but their findings have not been made public. The Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd, has agreed, under pressure from Leeds human rights lawyer Tony Wilde, to hold a Fatal Accident Inquiry into the death of Arnold McCardle. This is due to take place on the next available date after September.

There are questions about this case that need to be answered. Meanwhile whistleblowers and society as a whole need to be aware that ways of shooting the messenger include misuse of mental health procedures.

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FtC June 2005