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• Opinion and Recommendations
Mr Cordell is a resident at the Enfield borough, who was served an injunction on 9
January 2018, following numerous complaints by his neighbours of antisocial behaviour
and harassment. Despite this, Mr Cordell has continued to breach the order with further
incidents of harassment, threats, and assault against the neighbours. In addition, it has
been reported that some council employees have also received threats from Mr Cordell.
According to available information, Mr Cordell has had sporadic contact with the mental
health services and has been recently assessed by the Enfield Mental Health Assessment
Service. During my assessment, Mr Cordell was preoccupied with a number of
persecutory and grandiose delusional beliefs. In addition, he also presented with other
symptoms such as labile mood, pressured speech, overactivity, and flight of ideas. In my
view, Mr Cordell’s current presentation is consistent with Schizoaffective Disorder,
which is recognised as an enduring mental illness.
I have received specific instructions to address the following issues:
• Whether Mr Cordell has the mental capacity to litigate and give instructions to his
defence?
As highlighted above, Mr Cordell’s mental state is replete with complex persecutory
delusional belief system. During my assessment, Mr Cordell was convinced that the local
authority and the police have been colluding alongside his neighbours to pursue false
claims and allegations against him. In his view, the possession order and the injunction
order were based on false statements, created against him and this did not stand up in
Court and therefore an injunction was not issued against him. In my view, although there
are no significant deficits in Mr Cordell’s comprehension or retention of information, his
ability to process information relevant to the current proceedings is likely to be influenced
by his underlying delusional beliefs. During my interaction, it was evident that his
interpretation of events and actions of others are influenced by his abnormal beliefs. Mr
Cordell perceives himself as a victim and is aggrieved by the injustice carried out against
him. In my view,
Mr Cordell’s ability to weigh the information relevant to the current proceedings is
impaired due to his tendency to misinterpret any information presented to him to fit into
his entrenched persecutory delusional beliefs. Moreover Mr Cordell presents with
significant thought disorder and it is unlikely that he will be able to give coherent
instructions to the defence.
It is therefore my opinion that Mr Cordell lacks capacity to litigate and give appropriate
instructions to the defence.
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• Whether Mr Cordell understands the terms of the injunction order dated 9 January
2018?
Mr Cordell is currently suffering from symptoms of Schizoaffective Disorder and
presents with florid psychotic symptoms. His thinking and behaviour are influenced by
his underlying persecutory beliefs. Mr Cordell is convinced that the injunction order is a
cover up by the local authority for the errors and mistakes of the ASBO and therefore did
not stand up in Court. Mr Cordell is convinced that the injunction order has been falsified
by certain individuals (particularly Lemmy possibly in conjunction with others). He
therefore does not value the order, or the contents contained within it. In my opinion Mr
Cordell’s capacity to process the information relevant to the order is again impacted by
his delusional beliefs.
Dr Dhara Dinakaran, MBBS,