Retail Therapy - Yr Doin' It Wrong...

From Quiet_Man's blog and Burning Our Money comes this extraordinary story:

A woman convicted of murder has gone on the run during an escorted visit to the shops in south London.

Patricia Gillette, 41, from Streatham, south London, was detained indefinitely in 2007 for killing Mark Murphy, 38, at his home in Streatham in August 2006.

...

Police described her as "dangerous" and warned people not to approach her.

Now, as QM says, why the hell was she let out, given the inherent dangers she posed?

"The whole point of dealing with those who may be a danger to the public is that you don't let them anywhere near the public..."

Quite!

But more to the point, what purpose was this shopping trip supposed to serve?

I can understand how, in the case of someone institutionalised for decades and about to be released, this might serve a useful purpose, to prevent them keeling over with a heart attack at the price of food. But this woman was detained in 2007, for god's sake!

How could she be unfamiliar with the concept of shopping? She certainly doesn't seem to have had any problems finding the local chippy, kebab and burger shops, though the beauticians obviously proved a lot more elusive...