A FAMILY has called for a change in the law after their daughter was killed by a paranoid schizophrenic with a violent past.

Ronald Dixon was not being properly monitored and had stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication when he attacked Ashleigh Ewing, 22, stabbing her 39 times.

He had not long been released back into the community after being sectioned for making threats to kill the queen.

He had earlier attempted to kill his sleeping parents with a hammer.

Miss Ewing, of Hebburn, South Tyneside, had been sent alone to his flat in Newcastle on May 19, 2006, to deliver a letter from her employers.

In attacking her, Dixon broke three knives, leaving one embedded in her chest.

At the inquest into Miss Ewing's death, coroner, David Mitford heard how her employer, the charity Mental Health Matters, knew neither that Dixon had quit his medication or of his history of violence.

A NHS psychiatrist who assessed the killer before the attack failed to judge the risk he posed.

Mr Mitford recorded a verdict of unlawful killing and said he would write to the secretary of state for health to recommend changes in the way mental health patients were cared for in the community.

Miss Ewings parents, Aileen and Jeff, said outside court: "We call upon the Secretary of State for Health and indeed the Prime Minister to look at all aspects of care in the community for vulnerable people, especially those with mental health problems, and to reconsider the current legislation in light of Ashleigh's case."

Dixon admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was detained indefinitely.

In February 2010 Mental Health Matters was ordered to pay a total of £50,000.