'Psycho' flatmate took man's life

By Tony Wall

A meeting through a flatmate-wanted advertisement set Malcolm Beggs on a collision course with a disturbed mental patient who murdered him in his bed with an axe.

Mr Beggs, aged 25, joked with friends that the lodger he had taken in to help pay the mortgage on his first home might be "a psycho."

He did not realise that the "large flat" from which 19-year-old Lachlan Alexander Jones said he had moved was in fact Te Atarau acute psychiatric unit at Waitakere Hospital. Nor did he know that Jones was a paranoid schizophrenic who had discharged himself against medical advice.

One of Mr Beggs' friends found his body in his bed on Monday after workmates at Ovlov Marine in central Auckland, where he worked as an engineer, became concerned that he had not shown up for work.

Police say Mr Beggs died from head and neck injuries inflicted by an axe.

Jones' body was found in a car in the garage of the property at Universal Drive, Henderson.

Mr Beggs was the second person since June to die at the hands of a psychiatric patient living in the community.

ACC worker Janet Pike was stabbed to death at her Henderson office by Johnny Manu, a schizophrenic with a long history of public attacks.

Inquiries are under way into both cases.

Devastated friends and family of Mr Beggs are furious that no one had told him about his flatmate's condition.

Jones - who had convictions for theft and disorder - arrived at Te Atarau unit as an informal patient on July 14 and discharged himself against medical advice four days later.

A mobile intensive treatment team had visited him to ensure he took his medication. A team member arrived at the house on Monday for a scheduled appointment only to find a police crime scene.

Friends say Mr Beggs took Jones in a few weeks ago after turning down a number of "strange and weird" people who answered his advertisement.

Jones seemed the ideal candidate. He was quiet and paid his rent in advance.

But Mr Beggs became concerned when he started acting strangely and locking himself in his bedroom for long periods.

"Malcolm joked that the guy might be a psycho," said friend David Price.

His aunt, Lila Beggs, said her nephew should have been told that Jones had been in an institution.

"Malcolm knew there was something wrong. He was worried about his behaviour ... but he didn't know what to do."

Friends say Mr Beggs packed a lot into his short life. He loved diving, fishing, abseiling and yachting and was doing up an old Anglia as a race car. He was involved in the Scouts and ran a DJ business for extra income.

Ross Twyman described him as a "quiet guy who wouldn't hurt a fly."

He said many of his friends were angry that the "system" had failed again and allowed Mr Beggs to be killed.

Cindi Wallace of the Schizophrenia Fellowship said she believed there needed to be more "aggressive" follow-up of patients suffering severe symptoms, including command hallucinations where voices told them to do things.

Mr Beggs spent his final day diving and sailing with friends in the Hauraki Gulf.