Ashworth special hospital (Fallon 1999)

The inquiry was triggered by the "whistleblowing" of a patient, Steven Daggett, who absconded from the hospital and revealed to the media that high-security wards were awash with drugs, alcohol, and pornography. Peter Fallon QC was appointed to investigate these claims, specifically focusing on the ward culture where patients with severe personality disorders were housed.

The report's findings were described by then-Health Secretary Frank Dobson as "the most appalling I have ever read." The most distressing revelation was the grooming of a seven-year-old girl. Because of a "liberal" visitation policy introduced after the 1992 Blom-Cooper Inquiry, the child was allowed unsupervised visits to a high-risk paedophile. The inquiry found that the patient was grooming the girl for future abuse, and staff had ignored the obvious danger signs.

Beyond the child safety failures, the inquiry uncovered a "shadow economy" within the hospital. Patients were found to be:

• Running Businesses: Using hospital computers to run consultancy firms and credit card scams.

• Smuggling: One ward operated a "shop" that sold hardcore pornography, alcohol, and drugs, all brought in through lax security checks.

• Intimidating Staff: Nursing staff, particularly those in the Prison Officers Association (POA), were found to have been "captured" by the patients—either through physical intimidation or by being manipulated into "friendships" that compromised security.

The Fallon Report argued that the "therapeutic" pendulum had swung too far after the 1992 reforms, leading to a "professional isolation" where doctors and nurses were too afraid or too incompetent to enforce basic security rules.