TWO MENTALLY ill Hampshire men who killed after leaving care were badly let down by the system, a damning report revealed.

Mark Longman and Christopher Moffatt each carried out horrific murders after leaving care at Basingstoke.

But neither were afforded the proper care they were entitled to expect, the new report said.

The report gives a damning indictment of Hampshire's mental health services, claiming the county council:

l Failed to give any real financial backing for mental health until four years ago,

l Did not provide enough secure units for patients, and

l Did not train staff properly, meaning some patients regularly missed medication.

The findings, just a handful of 26 inefficiencies with the service, will send shock waves through the mental care profession.

Mr Longman, 31, had been discharged from hospital near Basingstoke in January 1995.

In June the following year he killed his father, Kenneth Longman, at their home in Basingstoke by setting fire to him. He later admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Mr Moffatt absconded from Parklands Hospital in Basingstoke in February 1998 and went to work in Andover.

On April 9 he entered a private house in Hampshire and stabbed a stranger, Anthony Harrison, to death. He was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and later committed suicide.

Mr Longman is presently being detained under the Mental Health Act.

The inquiry, which was commissioned in January 1999, pointed to a lack of money as being the biggest problem in the failure to help the men before they killed.

In 26-point general findings the inquiry said: "There was little additional investment in mental health services in north Hampshire until about four years ago."

The report added: "The consequence of this was that people did not have the benefit of an adequate range of mental health services during the period covered by our review."

The end of the report lists 67 steps taken by Hampshire County Council and Surrey-Hampshire Borders NHS Trust to try and ensure that no further deaths take place.