‘Wrong guy in the wrong place’ Family of Preston man stamped to death by a paranoid schizophrenic ‘let down’

The family of a much-loved father stamped to death by a paranoid schizophrenic has told a court they feel “let down” by the authorities.

Gary Carlisle, 62, was attacked by Jacob Hill, 32, as he walked his dog near his home in Preston, Lancashire, on March 12 last year. CCTV footage showed Hill left his address at just before 6am and behaved erratically before 10 minutes later he approached Mr Carlisle, a stranger, with his arms outstretched.

A “plainly frightened” Mr Carlisle backed off and ran away pursued by Hill, who jumped on his back and dragged him to the floor, Preston Crown Court heard. Hill kicked Mr Carlisle when he tried to get off the ground and then launched “a sickening display of brutal violence” as he repeatedly stamped on his victim’s head.

Several shocked commuters witnessed the incident including a female bus passenger who confronted Hill and shouted: “What are you doing? Stop.” Hill responded with a forceful headbutt to her face, the court heard, before police and paramedics arrived on the scene.

The woman said the scene was “like something out of a horror film” as Mr Carlisle lay face down in a pool of blood.

Hill was arrested shortly after police twice discharged a Taser at him and later told detectives: “I was out of my mind. He was the wrong guy in the wrong place.” Mr Carlisle died a week later in hospital from “catastrophic” brain injuries.

In a victim impact statement, his sister Jackie Watters told the court: “He has been snatched away from me. It feels so unfair. I can never forget those tens of hours sat in the ICU looking at him, stroking him … a man with a swollen head displaying every line, crease and bruise. The staff said they were the worst-ever injuries seen in the ICU.”

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She added the family believed they had been let down by authorities who allowed Hill to live in the community with “normal people” like her brother.

Mr Carlisle’s daughter Simone Hartley said: “I feel as if our lives have been toppled upside down but he is OK and is being treated in hospital. He was known to mental health when he did this. Things need to be different. I do feel we have been let down. Changes need to be made so it doesn’t happen to someone else.”

Mukul Chawla KC, defending, said there was “a wealth of evidence” that the defendant sought to address his illness in the weeks and days before the fatal attack.

He said: “He had sought stronger medication. He realised something was wrong. That was not even evident to the community health worker at the time.”

Hill had no previous convictions but was arrested for assaults in recent years, including some when he was in mental health institutions, but none resulted in prosecutions. The court was told that psychiatrists for the prosecution and defence agreed Hill was suffering from an enduring, severe psychotic illness. It had presented since his late teens and had led to multiple admissions to hospital.

Hill pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He is being treated in a high-security psychiatric hospital and is said to be “currently stable and compliant” on a high dose of anti-psychotic medication, but is “prone to relapse”.

On Friday, he was sentenced to a hospital order with a restriction that he cannot be released into the community without the permission of the Secretary of State or a mental health tribunal.

Judge Robert Altham, Honorary Recorder of Preston, told Hill: “I cannot imagine how Mr Carlisle’s family have been affected by what you did to him.

“The suddenness of his death and the sheer brutality of your actions are beyond any kind of comprehension. I fear your illness will not lessen the feelings of shock and anger that Mr Carlisle’s family must inevitably feel.”

He said Mr Carlisle was a “much-loved father” who was “central” to the lives of his family.