Jailed father who set himself alight moved to hospital

Despite schizophrenia and psychosis, Thomas White was serving an abolished IPP term, called 'torture' by the UN

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

A father who set himself alight as his mental health crumbled while serving 13 years in prison for stealing a phone is finally being transferred to hospital following a six-year battle by his family.

Thomas White, who is languishing under an abolished indefinite jail term described by the United Nations as "psychological torture", developed paranoid schizophrenia and psychosis in prison as he lost hope of being freed from his Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence.

Last year, The Independent revealed how he had set himself on fire in his cell as this newspaper backed his family's calls for him to be transferred for inpatient mental health treatment, after he was repeatedly refused a hospital bed.

In March, we revealed how he had he had suffered yet another mental health crisis, in which he repeatedly smashed his face on the floor of maximum-security HMP Manchester, where he was being held.

This week, the 42-year-old father of one learned he will finally be discharged from prison into hospital care. His sister Clara White told The Independent: "Thomas will now be a patient and not a prisoner."