THAT mental health services failed patient Matthew Daley is in itself a tragedy.

But that failure led to Daley, a schizophrenic, stabbing pensioner Don Lock 40 times in a road rage attack at the side of the A24 near Findon.

Mr Lock, who was 79, never stood a chance.

NHS England has published an independent report on the care of Daley, which was clearly inadequate.

It led to an innocent man losing his life.

Clearly, harsh lessons must be learnt from incidents such this and crucial improvements made to try to prevent a similar tragedy ever happening again.

Daley was jailed for manslaughter due to demolished responsibility.

Mental health is a huge issue and, to be fair, charities and indeed the NHS are making significant steps in terms of support and treatment.

Some will undoubtedly say it is too little, too late but apportioning blame will not make for a better solution.

Of course, the NHS must learn from tragedies like this and make sure the best facilities are available to treat those suffering from mental ill health.

No doubt the family of Mr Lock will neither forgive no forget and who can blame them?

There can be no excuse for what happened, how could there be?

And, it has to be acknowledged, sometimes apologies are never enough.

The two people at the centre of what happened, Don Lock and Matthew Daley, were both let down by the system. That simply isn’t good enough.