HE was failed by the very people there to care for him.

When Terry Parnell was a young boy he was the perfect child who was never in trouble and always happy and polite.

In his teenage years he suffered from depression, at the age of 14 he had started to use Class A drugs and by the age of 17 was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia that was putting himself and others at serious risk.

He was refusing to accept medication and instead regularly used cannabis.

Terry's behaviour culminated in him stabbing his dad through the heart, leaving him just seconds from death. He only survived because of the miraculous work of a doctor who performed open-heart surgery as Tony Parnell lay clinically dead on the floor.

Today the Daily Echo reveals the heartache of a mum whose son's condition was ignored until it was almost too late and the amazing story of the Hampshire doctor who saved Tony's life.

Debbie Parnell has been forced to give up her job working in the kitchens at Eastleigh's Barton Peveril College, to be a full-time carer for her former husband despite the fact they separated more than ten years ago.

Following the stabbing on September 21 last year, Tony spent six weeks in a coma but remained at Southampton General Hospital for six months, finally being allowed home in March.

Tony, 46, now has epilepsy, has suffered brain damage and finds it difficult to walk far. He is able to feed himself but needs round the clock care while he continues to recover from the injury that almost killed him.

His son Terry, meanwhile, has been detained at Ravenswood House secure unit in Fareham indefinitely following the orders of a judge at Southampton Crown Court.

Neither Debbie or Tony lay blame with their son whose actions have changed their lives forever. Instead they say what has happened to their family is the fault of mental health services across Hampshire - and particularly in Southampton - that failed Terry.

Speaking from their home in Twyford Road, Eastleigh, Debbie, 42, said: "We don't blame Terry. We love him very much. It's the system that is completely wrong.

"If he had been given the right treatment from the beginning and people had listened then none of this would have happened.

More on this story in today's Daily Echo