"Extremely dangerous" psych prisoner escapes from Den Dolder clinic

A 44-year-old psychiatric prisoner escaped from a clinic in Den Dolder on Saturday. Peter M. got away during a three-hour long leave from the clinic. Without medication, the man is "extremely dangerous", his family said to newspaper AD.

M. escaped from clinic Fivoor, the same clinic that was treating Michael P. when he abducted, raped and killed 25-year-old Anne Faber in 2017, according to the Telegraaf. Problems in the treatment of Michael P. prompted the Ministry for Legal Protection to implement stricter rules for psychiatric prisoners.

Peter M. was convicted in 2017 for threatening to blow up a railway station in Dordrecht and attacking someone on the street. M. is psychotic and suffers from schizophrenia. The court in The Hague sentenced him on appeal to institutionalized psychiatric treatment.

The man's family told AD that he caused many problems in the Den Dolder clinic, refusing to take his medication and harassing a local police officer. According to his sister, M. said multiple times that he wanted to escape and the management of the clinic was warned about that.

"He is extremely dangerous", M.'s 70-year-old mother said to the newspaper. "He hasn't had medication for days. I can assure you... without medication he is life-threateningly dangerous."

Jan Scherphuis of a Den Dolder residents' association was shocked by the news of M.'s escape. He told RTV Utrecht that the clinic did not inform local residents, the mayor or the police about the escape - they had to find out from newspaper AD. "I didn't believe it at first. I thought: this is a joke. But no, it's very serious", Scherphuis said to the broadcaster. "When I heard, I contacted the municipality on the assumption that the mayor, who is responsible for safety, would have been informed, but nothing was known there. They then contacted the police who also didn't know about it."

RTV Utrecht contacted the Midden-Nederland police and confirmed that they did not know about the escape. Fivoor refused to comment to the broadcaster on Wednesday morning.

Over the weekend a patient from this same clinic left Fivoor, broke into a liquor store in Den Dolder and stole some alcohol. He later returned to the clinic, where he was arrested, according to RTV Utrecht.