Sarah Allison was convicted of killing her baby son five years ago and sent to a psychiatric unit. In an exclusive interview, her grandmother tells Marjorie McIntyre why she believes her 'treatment' at one unit did more harm than good.

IF SARAH Allison had served her term in jail for killing her six-month-old baby, the chances are she would have been freed at least two years ago. But a judge who sentenced her to four years for infanticide ruled she needed "treatment not punishment''.

That treatment has already lasted almost five years - during which her devoted grandmother Betty Allison claims that for a protracted period of time she got increasingly worse, not better. Betty is now fighting a determined battle, not just for Sarah, but for those she describes as having no-one to speak up for them.

Her allegations over what she believes to have been unsuitable treatment focus on the Hutton Centre at St Luke's Hospital in Middlesbrough. She believes that while at the centre, Sarah was placed in vulnerable and unsuitable situations and ended up sinking into deeper and deeper trauma.

Her claims have now been referred to the Healthcare Commission, which assesses the performance of healthcare organisations, and which has confirmed that an investigation is under way.

Sarah was 19 when she attacked her baby, Corey Raine, while she was suffering from post-natal depression. He was found dead at his home in Houghton-le-Spring, on April 12, 2000.

Accepting that there will always be harsh public judgement for the taking of the life of a baby, retired headteacher Betty also understands that there are those who need isolating and treating for severe behavioural problems.

"They are problems which can take an indefinable time to correct, but no-one, least of all my fragile and vulnerable granddaughter, deserves to have been made worse by their treatment,'' says Betty.

And that is what she believes has happened to Sarah, whom she claims, during her incarceration at the centre was allowed to roam free along the streets of Middlesbrough; has been supplied with drugs in the grounds of the Hutton Centre and at one time - because it was claimed she needed constant watch and there was no other suitable accommodation - was placed on an all-male ward.

She further claims that when attempts by a doctor at the Hutton Centre to have Sarah transferred to a psychiatric unit at Rampton Prison failed - because experts there believed she did not need the kind of treatment it offered - Sarah was left on an undisclosed regime of chemical medication and became uncommunicative and withdrawn.

Under the cloak of patient confidentiality, Betty alleges the centre has hidden its inability to tackle the behavioural problems of her granddaughter.

Along with Sarah's father Jeff, Betty has written to everyone from psychiatrists at the centre to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt outlining her belief that Sarah has been cared for in a regime which she believes was inadequately staffed and operated.

Betty, 76, is feisty, redoubtable and unshakable in her mission to secure the best treatment possible for not only Sarah but also those she believes have no-one to speak up for them.

It was at Betty's comfortable home in the Durham City suburb of Gilesgate that Sarah was arrested. The death of little Corey, and Sarah's admission of responsibility changed the lives of the Allisons for ever.

A respectable family, Betty, her husband Arnold and Sarah's dad were subjected to condemnation and gossip and were vilified by the community.

But they have come through and enlisted along the way the support of politicians and celebrities such as Tim Healey, whose wife Denise Welch suffered acute post-natal depression.

Sarah was just four-years-old when her parents separated and she was left in the care of her mother. In her early teens, she was placed into the care of social services, supported along the way by her dad and grandparents.

But while in care, the disturbed teenager met up with a boy and became pregnant, and it was after the birth of her son that further bleak depression descended on Sarah when her boyfriend was jailed and she was left alone to care for her baby.

Sitting in her front room, surrounded by family photographs, Betty says no-one knows exactly what happened on the night Corey lost his life.

But she says: "We know even less of Sarah's programme of rehabilitation while at the Hutton Centre."

The Allisons kept in constant touch with Sarah during her stay at the centre, visiting when they could and speaking to her nightly on the telephone. "Week by week we watched her deterioration,'' says Betty.

Then, just before last Christmas, the family was told that Sarah was being moved to a private hospital in the Midlands after she had been accused of assaulting a member of staff at the Hutton Centre.

"Since her move her transformation has been dramatic," says Betty. "She still has some low moments but she is much calmer and is making progress.''

It has been this marked improvement at the new unit which convinced Betty of the need for an inquiry into her granddaughter's treatment at the Hutton Centre.

While not commenting on individual cases, the Tees and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust says that patients who receive treatment at the Hutton Centre have their care reviewed at weekly multi-disciplinary team meetings with appropriate interventions put in place.

Patients also have regular reviews where a carer/relative can be invited at the request of the patient and an annual review where the patient's solicitor, an independent consultant psychiatrist and a lay member decide whether or not the care being given is still appropriate.

"A carer/relative can only receive information regarding a patient's treatment programme with the expressed permission of the patient themselves, regardless of the relationship the carer has with the patient," says a spokesman.

Regarding Sarah being placed on a male ward, he says that, although current national policy is to have single sex wards, there may be "very rare occasions due to unusual circumstances" where an individual may be placed on a ward occupied by members of the opposite sex.

On Betty's accusation that Sarah was sold drugs in the grounds of the Centre he adds: "The security of the buildings and the protection of our patients, their visitors and staff are of paramount importance to the trust. If incidents of people dealing drugs in the grounds of the hospital came to light this would be reported immediately to the police.''

But Betty argues that placing the onus on a disturbed person to give permission for information to be forwarded to relatives is "clearly flawed".

At the new private unit her family have been kept fully informed of Sarah's welfare and treatment by staff. "She is bright and alert and, although unhappy with still being incarcerated, is much more settled in herself,'' says Betty.

"We will never stop in our mission to ensure that Sarah is being looked after and treated appropriately, but who is speaking up for others? We are not seeking public sympathy or even understanding, we are simply fighting to ensure basic human rights for Sarah who will never get over what she has done but at least deserves the best chance to try."