The mortality experiences of a hospitalized mentally handicapped population between 1981 and 1990 (inclusive) were examined. A continued trend for increasing longevity in both males and females was found, with mean ages at death now approaching those in the general population. The commonest cause of death was non-tubercular respiratory infection, from which patients were particularly at risk during the months of December to February (inclusive). Patients diagnosed as suffering from psychoses other than schizophrenia and mood disorder had an increased mortality and should be thoroughly investigated for the presence of organic pathology. Epilepsy and Down's syndrome were associated with increased risk of earlier death, although in the case of Down's syndrome there has been a marked increase in longevity.

SUMMARYDifferences between patients being treated in two different medium secure units, one for those of normal intelligence and one for those with learning disability, were investigated.Sociodemographic, psychiatric, medical and medicolegal data were recorded for all inpatients in both secure units. Patients in the medium secure unit for those of normal intelligence were older at the time of the study and at conviction for the index offence, more likely to have been admitted from the penal system, and more likely to suffer from a psychotic disorder, particularly schizophrenia or a mood disorder. Their index offence was more likely to be homicide, attempted murder, manslaughter or grievous bodily harm, while that of the patients with learning disability was more likely to be a sexual offence. A need for separate medium secure unit facilities for those of normal intelligence and those with learning disability is supported by differing psychiatric and behavioural requirements. (Int J Clin Pract 2000; 54(5): 300‐305)

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Since its inception (Hounsfield, 1973), computerised tomography (CT) has become an invaluable diagnostic and research tool, particularly in clinical neurology and neurosurgery. Clinically, CT has proved useful in differentiating between ‘functional’ and ‘organic’ psychiatric disorders where it is particularly helpful in the diagnosis of potentially treatable organic disorders. For example, Owens et al (1980) found clinically unsuspected intracranial pathology in 12 of 136 chronic schizophrenic patients examined by CT and Roberts & Lishman (1984) found diagnosis, management, and/or prognosis were influenced in approximately 12% of cases referred by psychiatrists for CT imagining.

The Whitechapel murders of 1888 attributed to Jack the Ripper were, like many of the crimes of multiple-victim killers, well-publicised, bizarre and dramatic (Lunde & Sigal, 1990). Although in the public mind at the time the murders of at least seven women in and around the Whitechapel district of London's East End were believed to have been carried out by Jack the Ripper. However, according to police and forensic evidence his victims, all prostitutes, numbered only five, beginning with Mary Ann Nichols, found murdered on 31 August 1888, and ending with Mary Jane Kelly, whose mutilated body was discovered on 9 November 1888.