DOCTORS should never have released a mentally-ill man who went on to kill his young son hours later, a court was told.

Leslie Pepall, 28, is accused of murdering his four-year-old son Ben at their Hampshire family home by stabbing him through the chest and then hitting him about the head with a lamp stand.

Following the attack on August 6 last year, he then turned on his infant daughter, Chloe, also stabbing her.

Although she survived, Pepall, whose wife had left him for his best friend, is then said to have attempted to kill himself by plunging the knife into his own neck.

Yesterday at Winchester Crown Court the jury heard from defence witness Dr Christopher Jarman, a consultant psychiatrist.

It is alleged that Pepall had devised the plan while being treated for suicidal feelings at the Meadows, a psychiatric hospital in Hampshire.

Within hours of being released, Pepall had returned home to Gosport to attack his two children.

Mr Jarman said the hospital's doctors should never have allowed him to leave.

"The flags were waving but they were not seen. If they had been, if his true mental state had been understood, he would have been sectioned under the Mental Health Act and he would have been detained and given the treatment he needed."

Mr Jarman said that Pepall had "idolised" his family, particularly his son, Ben, which had helped him get through the death of his mother.

"I don't believe that he is an aggressive, vengeful man."

Mr Jarman said Pepall had been suffering from a "moderate depressive illness" in the months up to the killing, but was suffering severe depression while in the mental hospital.

He added: "I think that the diagnoses I have made, which are reflective of his mental state and behaviour, had a significant impact on him to the extent that it is my belief that he would not have done what he did had he not had the mental condition I have described."

Since his arrest, Pepall had gone on a hunger strike at Ravenswood Secure Unit but decided to end his fast for the sake of his daughter.

He denies murdering Ben but admits a charge of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Pepall has also pleaded guilty to attempting to murder Chloe.

Proceeding.