Mother of slain family demands law reform

Mental health laws must be changed to ensure children with a parent fighting potentially dangerous conditions like depression are not put at risk of injury or death.

Una Butler — whose husband John killed himself and the couple’s two children on Nov 16, 2010, in one of 32 Irish filicide deaths since 2000 — made the call after urging greater family invol-vement in and awareness of the vital medical care.

Ms Butler, from Ballycotton, East Cork, said she believed existing mental health laws failed to fully protect potentially at-risk children from tragedies like the one her family suffered.