Charity fined after graduate killed
02/02/2010
A mental health charity has been fined £30,000 after it failed to protect a graduate who was stabbed to death while working for the organization.
Mental Health Matters pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the safety of an employee under the Health and Safety at Work Act at Newcastle Crown Court.
Northumbria University graduate Asleigh Ewing was stabbed by paranoid schizophrenic Ronald Dixon as she visited his home nearly four years ago as part of her work with the charity.
The charity was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay a total of £20,000 in costs.
The judge Mr Justice Keith said: "The fact that a life has tragically been lost is a fact which must be reflected in the level of the fine. But it goes without saying that nothing can compensate for the loss of Ashleigh's life, which is of course precious."
Psychology graduate Miss Ewing, 22, from Hebburn, South Tyneside, was visiting Dixon's home in Eighth Avenue, Heaton, as part of her work with the Sunderland-based charity. The former Hebburn Comprehensive pupil was alone on the last day of her six-month probation period when she was attacked.
Dixon, who later admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, stabbed her 39 times using four different kitchen knives.
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