Mentally ill man shot dead in knife siege

A grieving mother collapsed in the dock at her son's inquest yesterday as she described how he had taken her hostage at knifepoint before being shot dead by police.

Kieron O'Donnell, 19, was killed after a 10-hour siege during which he barricaded his mother and girlfriend ina London flat and threatened to kill them after arming himself with a craft knife and a corkscrew.

Mr O'Donnell, who had a history of mental health problems and had been diagnosed schizophrenic, believed that police officers who had surrounded the flat were IRA terrorists who wanted to kill him, St Pancras coroner's court was told.

Fiona Hynes, the dead man's girlfriend, said Mr O'Donnell had tied her arms and legs and stabbed her in the side of the head with the corkscrew as police stormed the third-storey flat in Upper Holloway, north London, in October 2000.

But she told the hearing that Mr O'Donnell might not have died if police had handled the siege differently.

Ms Hynes said: "The police came in and they stayed behind the barricade.

"If they had gone straight over the barricade, straight in, Kieron would not have had the chance to stab me even once with the corkscrew. But they made the decision to stay behind the barricade which seemed to me like five minutes."

Ms Hynes was asked by Danny Friedman, counselfor Mr O'Donnell's family, what had made her boyfriend attack her. "He panicked," she replied: "When he heard the window smash and he heard 'Armed police, get on the floor' and all the firecrackers, which would make anyone panic."

Responding to questions from Peter Doyle, representing police officers involved in the incident, Ms Hynes agreed that she was so convinced that Mr O'Donnell was going to kill her that she was prepared to take a fatal overdose or throw herself from a window.

Catherine O'Connor, Mr O'Donnell's mother, sobbed as she told the inquest that her son should have had better treatment before he died.

Ms O'Connor, who said she had been willing to use her body as a "shield" to save Ms Hynes if Mr O'Donnell tried to stab her, told the hearing that her son had never hurt her. He allowed his mother to leave the besieged flat shortly before officers stormed the building.

Mr O'Donnell, who had problems with alcohol and drugs, had taken his mother hostage in a similar episode 18 months earlier and had been sent to hospital for treatment under the Mental Health Act.

He was released from hospital three months before his death and returned to live with his mother.

Ms O'Connor said her son's mental health had deteriorated in the weeks before he died and her flat had not been a "safe or proper" place for him to live. The hearing continues today.