'Macho culture' blamed for plight of female patients

From sexual assault to rape, the abusive treatment of women patients at Broadmoor has been exposed in horrifying detail by the whistleblower Julia Wassell, the hospital's former director of women's services.

The testimonies she collected from female patients at the high-security hospital provide a shocking insight into the lack of protection for women housed with some of Britain's most dangerous sex offenders.

Yesterday Ms Wassell, in an interview with The Independent on Sunday, said women at Broadmoor were treated as "second-class citizens" and subjected to bullying by other patients if they complained about sexual abuse.

Male patients are housed in modern secure blocks within the hospital. Women are held on Victorian wards, where facilities are inadequate but security is less strict. However, that does not make their situation any more bearable. Ms Wassell revealed that there were five times as many serious incidents on the women's block and that the building was riddled with "ligature points" where women could hang themselves.

One woman who was sexually abused by another male patient tried to hang herself with a pair of laces tied around window bars.

"The women's services block is covered in ligature points such as protruding pipes," Ms Wassell said. "Patients have cut themselves to the bone yet the whole culture of Broadmoor is that 'the women are playing up again'."

This newspaper has already highlighted the plight of patients languishing in high-security hospitals who should have been transferred to less secure accommodation. These include Janet Cresswell, an award-winning playwright who has been in Broadmoor for more than 22 years.

The hospital currently has 48 female patients, some of whom have not even been charged with committing a crime. It is estimated that between 55 per cent and 90 per cent have been sexually abused as children or young adults.

Of the women in Broadmoor, six have been charged with murder, and in each case this has been the result of a domestic dispute, not the random killing of a stranger.

During her time as a senior manager, Ms Wassell identified at least four cases of staff being "overinvolved" with patients. "It's a very macho and male-dominated culture," she said. "Those women who report abuse are bullied by associates of their assailants or labelled as liars. Yet the names of the same male patients came up over and over again."

Ms Wassell also demanded the transfer of several elderly women, all over the age of 70. They include Janet Cresswell, as well as a woman aged 93 who had been at the hospital for nearly 40 years.

Ian Johnston, director of the British Association of Social Workers, described the treatment of women at Broadmoor as "an outrage" and said the hospital had failed to take Ms Wassell's concerns seriously.

"She took action which was responsible and had to put up with a reaction which is all too common," he said. "We are not satisfied that her concerns have been taken as seriously as they should have been. It's almost like these people are not worth protecting."