SWEEPING reforms of mental health laws could see people locked up and forced to have treatment - even if they have committed no crime.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn unveiled proposals yesterday heralded as the biggest shake-up in the field for more than 40 years.

The reforms would make it possible for people classed as untreatable to be detained in hospital indefinitely, while patients released into the community could be re-admitted if they fail to take their medication.

The proposals were welcomed by Pamela Lowery, whose son, David, had suffered from mental illness for nearly 20 years before his death in a Darlington bedsit earlier this year.

Mrs Lowery, from Darlington, said David had been in and out of mental institutions, but there were no powers to detain him.

She said: "It is an awful thing to say but it is better for them to be locked up than roaming the streets.

"Social services tried to get him back into hospital but the only way to get him there was if he did something wrong."

Mr Milburn told MPs that existing mental health laws had failed to properly protect the public, patients or staff.

He said powers to compulsorily treat a patient for more than 28 days would be subject to independent scrutiny by a new mental health tribunal.

Cliff Prior, chief executive of the National Schizophrenia Fellowship, said the proposals were an early Christmas present for everyone who believed mental health had been neglected in the past.

He said: "The best way to improve mental health care and reduce risks is to make sure people and their families can get the help they need, as early as possible - this is an important step in the right direction.''

But Graeme Sandell, of the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, said the new powers were an excessive reaction and some people could be detained inappropriately.