AN independent inquiry has been launched into the handling of a mental health patient who killed a prostitute.

The investigation has been welcomed by the parents of Sarah Coughlan, who are desperate to discover why the convicted killer was free to murder their daughter.

George Leigers, 49, was jailed for life last February for the murder of the 19-year-old at his home in Montrose Street, Middlesbrough, in August 2003.

Six months before he stabbed her to death with a bayonet, doctors decided Leigers no longer needed supervision as part of his rehabilitation for killing his wife, Rita, in 1987, at their home in Blackhall, County Durham.

Leigers continued to make weekly trips to collect his medication, but after the killing, detectives found he had not been taking it regularly.

They also found a personal organiser in which he had written: "Killed again, should have taken my medication."

More than two years later, County Durham and Tees Valley Strategic Health Authority has commissioned an independent inquiry into the care and treatment of Leigers.

The panel will be chaired by Anne Galbraith, a former senior lecturer in law at the University of Northumbria and, until recently, a member of the Lord Chancellor's Council on Tribunals.

Sarah's father, John Coughlan, welcomed the move, saying: "It won't do Sarah any good, but it might come up with answers that help others in future."

In March, Leigers' life sentence was reduced to 21 years 172 days on appeal.