Copyright 2005 Nationwide News Pty Limited
Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia)

February 27, 2005 Sunday

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 38

LENGTH: 404 words

HEADLINE: Locked up for being too fat

BYLINE: JACQUI THORNTON

BODY:
A MAN who weighs 197kg was locked up in a mental hospital because he cannot stop eating.

Chris Leppard, 23, was last week dragged away against his will by social workers and police and forcibly detained.

Authorities in the southern English county of Sussex used powers normally employed to detain mentally ill people who might harm themselves or others.

Mr Leppard's furious mother, Anne Leppard, said her son had no mental problems and was winning his fight against the rare illness that compels him to eat.

Mr Leppard, who has since been released, suffers from an incurable condition called Prader-Willi Syndrome. He cannot tell when his stomach is full and could eat so much that it could kill him.

Mr Leppard's case has been condemned by many social workers, warning other people with life-threatening addictions could be next.

Mrs Leppard, 49, described the agonising moment when the ambulance came to take Chris away -- without prior warning from authorities.

"Four people turned up and after some questions said they were taking him away. Chris was really upset, crying, saying he didn't want to go and that he wasn't mental," Mrs Leppard said.

"We didn't know they were coming to take him. He is being punished for being ill. He has a physical problem. He was working well towards losing some his weight.

"He asked social services to give him six months to prove he could lose some of his 31 stone -- they didn't give him six days.

"I had stopped giving him money for food. For the first time in years, we were getting somewhere. We had locked food cupboards -- that was a big step."

Mrs Leppard said she asked for the six months' grace to prove her son could lose weight. He was already on a diet and exercising.

But the authorities took him to a specialist eating disorder unit at clinic, where they can hold detainees for assessment for up to 28 days.

Shadow British Health Minister Tim Loughton was outraged.

"It's a taste of things to come if the government's draft Mental Health Act becomes law. It will subject people who are not strictly suffering from mental illness to sectioning," he said.

Angry Libertarian Alliance spokesman Dr Sean Gabb said: "What on earth justifies the intervention of the police and compels him to have medical treatment?"

East Sussex County Council said all proper procedures had been followed and such orders were in the interests of Mr Leppard's health.