A pair of grieving sisters are demanding an end to "whitewash NHS inquiries" after care in the community failings saw their schizophrenic brother kill their parents.
Paranoid schizophrenic Alan Scott was put on a care programme that controlled his condition.
But after he was left unmedicated for eight days he butchered his parents in an frenzied knife attack.
Twice before their deaths, Alan, 37, tried to obtain his injection at a specialist NHS clinic yet he was turned away on each occasion, apparently because no staff were available to deal with him.
Alan had been treated as an out-patient for ten years, had no history of violence and was prescribed a monthly injection of the drug Depixol.
He had been due to receive the regular jab on 24th March, 2008 - eight days before the killings - but he missed his appointment.
Over those eight days his condition deteriorated and with a tortured, delusional mind he went berserk with a knife inflicting 50 stab wounds on the couple.
Scott pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his parents Alan Scott, snr, 61, and Stella, 59, at their home in Allerton, Liverpool on 31st March 2008.
On 20th July this year, at Liverpool Crown Court, Alan was sentenced to be detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.
Now his devastated sisters Colette McCormack, 41 and Christine Scott, 40, are demanding urgent action to prevent a repeat of the tragedy.
The sisters are furious after they learned their parents' deaths are the THIRD in a pattern of similar blunders by the NHS in the Merseyside area .
It follows the cases of unmedicated schizophrenics Michael Abram, who attempted to kill pop legend George Harrison in 1999, and Mark Corner, who butchered two prostitutes in 2003.
Both those cases were the subject of top-level NHS inquiries - the second into the same Mersey Care NHS Trust that handled Alan's case.
Both identified fatal errors and there were solemn promises that lessons had been learned and changes made to guard against further tragedies.
Officials were ordered to issue action plans to prevent such mistakes being repeated and health chiefs said system failings had been rectified.
But his sisters tell how Mersey Care NHS Trust's Moss Clinic discharged Alan on the basis that he would receive monthly injections to control his schizophrenia.
And they are demanding an explanation as to why their brother was allowed to wander the streets for eight days beyond the due date for his vital injection.
He insists he had twice tried to obtain the medication at the Moss Clinic, only to be turned away because there was "no qualified nurse available to administer it".
Alan is said to have taken a cocktail of drugs before travelling to his parents' home and stabbing them to death due to talking to spirits in his head.
Astonishingly, a Mersey Care NHS Trust medic arrived to administer the injection to him on 1st April - the day after he had killed his parents.
Angry Colette, 41, said: "I believe my parents were killed through NHS negligence.
"Alan had not had his medication even though he had tried to get it twice.
"Now we have found that very similar blunders happened in the cases of Michael Abram and Mark Corner.
"There were official inquiries but it seems that they were a whitewash and despite all their promises another tragedy has happened for a third time.
"We can't bring-back our mother and father but we want to expose this terrible scandal before someone else dies in the same way.
"I'm disgusted with Mersey Care. They let Alan down. They let us down and they let our parents down with their neglect.
"But they have have not owned-up to the errors in Alan's case and we are going to have to fight to get them to admit they were wrong and to take action.
"They call it 'Care in the Community' but that is a sick joke.
"Where's the care when our brother was left unmedicated to go and kill his parents?
"The series of mistakes made over Alan's treatment is horrific.
"Mersey Care had absolutely no contact with us - Alan's family - so we had no idea what was happening with his treatment.
"We have been appalled to discover he was allowed to lower the level of his medication without an assessment first.
"Then we found three-and-a-half years had passed since Alan's treatment had last been assessed.
"It is clearly slack and we believe that led directly to Alan's deterioration.
"There are a number of people responsible for a whole series of mistakes made in Alan's care and treatment."
Colette revealed that Alan was prescribed 50mg a month of Depixol which was normally administered at the Moss Clinic in Liverpool.
Now, as an in-patient at top security Ashworth Hospital, he is on 1000mg a month to control his illness.
She said: "That is a huge difference.
"If he had been properly medicated, and they made sure he got his medication, my parents would be alive today.
"Alan had missed his needle and called into the Moss Clinic twice, wanting it.
"Both times he was told he would have to come back because a qualified nurse was not available early that morning or everyone was busy in a meeting.
"Two opportunities were missed, and there was no phone call to our family to inform us Alan was unmedicated.
"On the 9th day there was a visit to Alan's home to give him the medication - far too late.
"Our parents were already lying dead and Alan was arrested by police.
"Apparently Alan had been smoking skunk marajuana and drinking lager but as I understand it, there were no drugs tests taken to prove this.
"We are in the dark about so many issues and we want answers."
The sisters' solicitor has obtained an assurance from the Liverpool Coroner that a full inquest will be held, but not until next year at the earliest.
Added Colette: "There will be an inquest but that will be months away and we are not confident it will get to the bottom of who is to blame for the blunders.
"We are frustrated, grieving, angry and we are adamant we must receive an apology from Mersey Care NHS Trust and an absolute guarantee that there will be no whitewash this time.
"We want those responsible to accept responsibility and to actually learn from the mistakes.
"The system is totally flawed, it needs to be overhauled and prevent anyone else going through what we have suffered."
Alan Scott and his wife Stella had kept careful eye on their son after he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia over a decade ago.
Scott had been a troublesome teenager who had dabbled with cannabis and cocaine, and was diagnosed with the illness aged 21.
Mr Scott snr, 61, suffered 13 stab wounds to his face, neck and upper body, while his 59-year-old wife was knifed 37 times to her chest and arms.
Added Christine: "Mum and dad were our lives. We were such a close-knit family.
"I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive Alan for what he did.
"Disgustingly, he went off and had a drink with his mates and it's hard to understand how he was so cruel.
"They spent so much of their time trying to make sure Alan was safe and well.
"Without the medication he must have been completely out-of-his-mind when he killed them.
"He's taken away our lives as well as mum and dad's.
"He has destroyed his own life too.
"We've got to live with this every day.
"Alan ripped the most loving people in the world away from us.
"He has apologised via his solicitor. But it won't bring back mum and dad.
"It was such a horrific attack, so violent, so hateful. Mum and Dad did not deserve what he did.
"Still can't believe Alan was capable of doing that to them - to anyone - they loved him so much.
"He would have be fine so long as he had his medicine.
"Without it he had delusional thoughts - voices in his head - and he made up all sorts of bizarre lies.
"Now Alan is receiving the correct medication I know he will not be able to live with the guilt of what he did."
Colette added: "We had a lot of close contact with Alan.
"Our family would meet every Sunday and we all did our best for him.
"We would argue sometimes because I was concerned because the money he kept asking from mum and dad which we knew he would then spend on drugs."
Christine painfully recalled: "I saw him the Sunday before it happened.
"I would take the kids to see mum and dad a lot so saw him often.
"It was a meeting like any other family, we enjoyed sharing stories from the past week and Alan had a laugh with us all over a cup of tea.
"Alan was hard to deal with. He was acting-up as usual. He always demanded a lot of attention.
"To talk to Alan you would never have guessed he had a mental illness.
"He seemed every bit as normal as you or I.
"When I last saw him, the week before he killed mum and dad, he was the same as usual.
"But never in a million years would I have predicted that within a week he would kill our mum and dad."
"Growing up with Alan was like any other family experience.
"He was often a nuisance, like most younger brothers are.
"Problem was Alan continued acting like that throughout adulthood.
"He delighted in taking the mickey out of everyone, especially my dad.
"Alan used to wind us up something rotten, but he was never nasty with it.
"It was always goodhearted humour, even in recent years when he was struggling with his illness.
"As teenagers we had no idea at the time he was experiementing with cannabis and other drugs.
"When he was sectioned in 1993 it broke mum and dad's hearts.
"They absolutely doted on Alan, he was their only son, their youngest - they were soft on him.
"We tried to get him to volunteer to keep him busy, to get away from taking drugs, but he never did.
"So mum and dad did the best they could - they stood by him, had him visit us often and tried to keep the family unit together.
"Our Sundays were always happy ones.
"He had a sarcastic sense of humour and was always trying to get a rise out of us.
"Mum and dad would always listen to him.
"And they would always help him out with money problems.
"It used to drive us mad but they thought they were doing their best by him.
"It tears us apart to think of how he repaid them."
Colette McCormack added:
"Dad always had a smile on his face.
"He was a completely selfless person. So was mum.
"They were a match made in Heaven.
"Mum worked for the city council for 30 years, in elderly and children's homes.
"Her last job as as a domestic assistant in respite care for disabled children.
"She lived to please everyone else, never took a break for herself.
"She was mother figure to all the kids, and the staff too and she had been given an award for her dedication to the work."
"She was due to retire last June. Mum and dad would've finally been together all the time.
"We feel so hollow without them in our lives.
"Can't express how upset everyone was by their deaths.
"The people she worked with had counselling.
"Over 500 people attended the funeral. They had a massive amount of loyal friends.
"It was so touching - a true testament to the love they spread throughout their lives.
"Everyone's taken it really hard. The community are still getting over their loss.
"I don't think we ever will."
The sisters are determined to ensure the Care in the Community system is radically overhauled to prevent a tragedy happening again.
Furious Christine Scott said: "Mersey Care NHS Care Trust said they had learned lessons when Mark Corner murdered two prostitutes because he had skipped his medication.
"The link between paranoid schizophrenics and murder is exactly that - they have been unmedicated.
"The officials would like to brush this under the carpet. They want to hush it up and hope we will not demand action.
"But we are determined our parents have not died in vain. Mental illness cannot go untreated.
"We can't leave this until they have another whitewash inquiry that is just left to gather dust on a shelf.
"Patients need to be assessed, and cared for, properly. Alan was classified as 'low risk' but he obviously wasn't.
"There needs to be an efficient system to alert the family if a patient misses an injection.
"Each day that passes after a missed injection should see more and more urgent action until it reaches a red alert.
"If Alan was capable of doing this then anyone could. It's terrifying to think something similar could happen to another family today.
"The resources need to be put in place so that modern, failsafe systems are used.
"We had no clue that he was not getting the proper care and attention. You presume the experts know what they're doing."
Specialist mental health lawyer Peter Edwards is representing the sisters.
He said: "The important issue here is that Mersey Care have clearly not learned their lessons.
"Whenever there are tragedies there is always an enquiry.
"The fundamental problem is that local authorities appear to be completely unaware of what happens elsewhere.
"One wonders to what extent they are ensuring thorough after care for patients, and if there are changes in place to make sure this does not happen again.
"There have been criticisms of the system in the cases of Michael Abrams and Mark Corner.
"These men and their families have been let down.
"Alan had a condition he had a right to be protected from.
"Just because he had not previously been arrested for a violent crime should not mean he did not receive proper treatment.
"The majority of people with schizophrenia live successfully in the community if medicated correctly.
"What is apparent is that Mersey Care did not seem to have a clear idea of Alan's mental state. He had not been assessed in over three years.
"The people of Merseyside and beyond have a right to ask Mersey Care what on earth they are doing to prevent such tragedies reoccurring."
A statement issued by Mersey Care NHS Trust read: "Mersey Care NHS Trust would like to express its sympathy once again to members of the Scott family for their double bereavement in the most difficult of all circumstances.
"Alan Scott was a long term patient of the trust's community service and had received ongoing care and treatment over many years.
"This was a tragic situation involving a patient with a long history of successfully using a variety of mental health services.
"Issues governing patient confidentiality make it difficult for the Trust to go into the exact details of his condition or treatment. However, since the deaths of his parents he has been receiving treatment as a patient at Ashworth high secure hospital and that is where the courts decided in July that it would be appropriate for him to remain.
"Medical Director and Deputy Chief Executive Dr David Fearnley said: "Mersey Care NHS Trust held a thorough investigation of its own into all the circumstances within its jurisdiction concerning this case.
"It was led by a non-executive director of the trust and included two independent clinicians."
"An inquest into the circumstances of the deaths of Mr and Mrs Scott has yet to be held and it would be inappropriate for us to comment before that hearing."
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