A Crown Court judge warned the public is at risk because there are no high security hospital facilities in Northern Ireland for mentally ill prisoners, as he jailed a paranoid schizophrenic who hacked a man to death and dump-ed his body in a bin.

Mr Justice Stephens imposed a discretionary life sentence on Mark Warwick for the manslaughter of William McClatchey, whose dismembered body was found in a bin outside a block of flats in east Belfast last year.

The judge told the court that Warwick “pulled out a machete and struck him (Mr McClatchy) over the head with it. There were defence wounds to the deceased’s hands. You struck him several times on his neck with downward blows and you cut off his head.

“You then cut up his body with a machete and a saw so the lower part of his trunk would fit into a bag. You dismembered his body into three pieces. You put the body into the communal bin. There were vast quantities of blood in your flat, which you cleaned up. Thereafter, you did not try to leave but stayed in your flat, except to go to the off licence and to purchase a rug to replace the one destroyed as a result of the incident”.

The victim’s mother Mary McClatchey, said: “I was told my son died quickly and now realise he did not – the more about the incident I find out, the more it hurts. I am a mother whose son has been murdered in the most brutal way, he was not given any comfort or dignity when he died and as a mother I find this, and the loss, just too much to bear.”

Mr Justice Stephens concluded Mark Warwick suffers from a personality disorder which is distorted by paranoid schizophrenia.

The judge considered that this personality disorder creates a substantial likelihood that he will cause serious physical harm to other persons in the future.

Mr Justice Stephens added it was a matter of considerable regret that there are no high security hospital facilities available for mentally ill prisoners awaiting trial in Northern Ireland.

He said the lack of facilities makes it more difficult to assess whether a defendant is suffering from a dangerous personality disorder as well as a mental illness. This could result in the court imposing the wrong order and the defendant being released into the community when he or she still poses a serious risk.

The court was told that Warwick should serve a minimum of five years before his release is considered. “It may be longer before the defendant is considered suitable, and if released, he will be subject to licence conditions for life,” Mr Justice Stephens said.