Obese Hastings cannibal killer given NHS gastric band op

KILLER: Graham Fisher KILLER: Graham Fisher

A 23-stone cannibal killer is recovering in a private hospital bed after receiving a gastric band operation on the NHS.

Graham Fisher, 39, who killed two women in Hastings 14 years ago, has undergone the operation after ballooning in weight since his stay at high-security Broadmoor Hospital.

It is estimated that the cost of the killer’s operation and recuperation time is about £15,000. The killer was only on a waiting list for three months for the operation.

He is expected to recover over the next few days in an en suite room in a private hospital in Oxfordshire.

In 2010, he admitted strangling and setting on fire Clare Letchford and Beryl O’Connor in Hastings in 1998. He also cut flesh from 40-year-old Miss Letchford’s arm and ate it.

Fisher was initially jailed for five years after indecently assaulting two Spanish students at knifepoint in Eastbourne in 1998.

He was transferred to Broadmoor in 2001 under the Mental Health Act after he was found to be a “grave and immediate danger” if released into the community.

Miss Letchford’s mother Joyce, of St Leonards, recently told The Argus that the possibility that Fisher would be entitled to free surgery was “unbelievable”.

A spokeswoman for West London Mental Health NHS Trust, which has responsibility for Broadmoor, said: “People receiving treatment for mental illness are entitled to the same level of care as anyone else.”

The move has angered Portslade resident Rosemary Skinner who has waited more than five years for a “tummy tuck” operation but has been told by heath bosses her operation would be cosmetic and not vital.

She told The Argus yesterday: “It makes me angry to think that somebody like that can get one when I can’t.

“I can’t see why he needs it. I have a family and it’s very difficult, I have to rely on my kids.”

Comments(19)

The Masked Salmon says...
1:48pm Mon 20 Aug 12

I see the Argus is taking the Daily Mail route to generating comments and traffic nowadays. Unsurprising. Also:

"The move has angered Portslade resident Rosemary Skinner who has waited more than five years for a “tummy tuck” operation but has been told by heath bosses her operation would be cosmetic and not vital. "

Key words there being "cosmetic" and "not vital". And what on earth does the last out of context paragraph have to do with anything? It's difficult that she needs non-vital cosmetic surgery?

rolivan says...
2:05pm Mon 20 Aug 12

IF He needed Surgery that badly they should have put the Gastic Band on His throat.

MuammarQaddafi says...
2:37pm Mon 20 Aug 12

If it's any consolation, gastric bypass surgery often results in severe complications, some of which are fatal.

dhamallamafarmer says...
3:00pm Mon 20 Aug 12

We don't execute people in this country and witholding medical treatment because he's a convicted criminal (with mental health issues which would invalidate him from execution in those countries that do have such a punishment) would be tantamount to deliberately killing him.
As far as poor Mrs Skinner & her drooping gut are concerned, there are probably other people in more need of cosmetic surgery than her, imagine the numbers of potential playboy bunnies cruelly afflicted with having to struggle through with their own boobs. These are the kind of people we want to see at the top of the list!

MikeyA says...
3:28pm Mon 20 Aug 12

rolivan wrote:
IF He needed Surgery that badly they should have put the Gastic Band on His throat.
Two birds: one stone!

Joshiman says...
3:29pm Mon 20 Aug 12

Disgraceful.What kind of Country is this????????????

MikeyA says...
3:41pm Mon 20 Aug 12

rolivan wrote:
IF He needed Surgery that badly they should have put the Gastic Band on His throat.
Two birds: one stone!

tooned_in says...
3:45pm Mon 20 Aug 12

without sounding too harsh on the convicted killer surely he has all day long to use the prison gym to loose weight and medical advice on hand, after all he doesnt have to go to work every day like normal folk so there is plenty of time between tv shows, hot meals & playing pool to exercise??

Mel@cityclean says...
3:55pm Mon 20 Aug 12

So he kills two women, and is rewarded by the tax payer paying for his life, three meals a day. And £15.000 for a needlless operation on a piece of excrement!!!!

Number Six says...
4:07pm Mon 20 Aug 12

rolivan wrote:
IF He needed Surgery that badly they should have put the Gastic Band on His throat.
Executing the mentally sick now, are we? That should keep NHS waiting lists down

Welcome to Saudia Arabia!

rolivan says...
5:34pm Mon 20 Aug 12

Number Six wrote:
rolivan wrote:
IF He needed Surgery that badly they should have put the Gastic Band on His throat.
Executing the mentally sick now, are we? That should keep NHS waiting lists down

Welcome to Saudia Arabia!
Because one has a mental ilness doesn't give them the right to go around killing people.Think of the Victims Famillies.Was He diagnosed before He carried out the Crimes?

lachrymatory says...
9:16pm Mon 20 Aug 12

It should never have come this, seeing as he is detained in a secure hospital where surely what he eats can be controlled? However, it has happened and he is entitled to the same care as anyone else.

Annumella says...
9:58pm Mon 20 Aug 12

surely the bread and water diet for prisoners would have worked. What a waste of money.

Annumella says...
9:58pm Mon 20 Aug 12

surely the bread and water diet for prisoners would have worked. What a waste of money.

Getaroundin says...
6:57am Tue 21 Aug 12

Same old, same old. We spend 90% of the funding on the bottom 5%.

Rosemary would do well to eat a little less and exercise some more and not rely on public funding!

Grendel says...
9:43am Tue 21 Aug 12

rolivan wrote:
Number Six wrote:
rolivan wrote:
IF He needed Surgery that badly they should have put the Gastic Band on His throat.
Executing the mentally sick now, are we? That should keep NHS waiting lists down

Welcome to Saudia Arabia!
Because one has a mental ilness doesn't give them the right to go around killing people.Think of the Victims Famillies.Was He diagnosed before He carried out the Crimes?
One of the stupidest comments I have ever read on the Argus, and that's saying something. Not much going on upstairs, is there dear?

Cory and Trevor says...
9:56pm Tue 21 Aug 12

Mel@cityclean wrote:
So he kills two women, and is rewarded by the tax payer paying for his life, three meals a day. And £15.000 for a needlless operation on a piece of excrement!!!!
sounds like he eats a bit more than "three meals a day". They'd have done better to keep feeding him until he bursts seeing as he's a violent, murderous rapist. Might have been a quicker and cheaper death for him.

Still, let's not forget his 'rights' eh right-ons.

Mr_Tom says...
12:54pm Wed 22 Aug 12

I don't see why anyone 'needs' this operation.. just stop eating so much.. and do some exercise..
why the hell should the already overburdened NHS have to deal with the consequences of you someone not able to stop stuffing themselves with crap?

Mr_Tom says...
12:55pm Wed 22 Aug 12

ignore the 'you'.. I just meant someone!

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