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5. Opinion and Recommendations

Mr Cordell is a resident at the Enfield borough, who was served an injunction on 9 January

2018, following numerous complaints by his neighbours of antisocial behaviour and
harassment. Despite this, Mr Cordell has continued to breach the order with further incidents of

harassment, threats and assault against the neighbours. In addition, it has been reported that
some council employees have also received threats from Mr Cordell. According to available

information, Mr Cordell has had sporadic contact with the mental health services and has been
recently assessed by the Enfield Mental Health Assessment Service. During my assessment,

Mr Cordell was preoccupied with a number of persecutory and grandiose delusional beliefs. In
addition, he also presented with other symptoms such as labile mood, pressured speech,
overactivity and flight of ideas. In my view, Mr Cordell’s current presentation is consistent with

Schizoaffective Disorder, which is recognised as an enduring mental illness.

I have received specific instructions to address the following issues:
1. Whether Mr Cordell has the mental capacity to litigate and give instructions to his

defence?
As highlighted above, Mr Cordell’s mental state is replete with complex persecutory delusional

belief system. During my assessment, Mr Cordell was convinced that the local authority and the
police have been colluding alongside his neighbours to pursue false claims and allegations

against him. In his view, the possession order and the injunction order were based on false
statements, created against him and this did not stand up in Court and therefore an injunction

was not issued against him. In my view, although there are no significant deficits in Mr Cordell’s
comprehension or retention of information, his ability to process information relevant to the

current proceedings is likely to be influenced by his underlying delusional beliefs. During my
interaction, it was evident that his interpretation of events and actions of others are influenced

by his abnormal beliefs. Mr Cordell perceives himself as a victim and is aggrieved by the
injustice carried out against him. In my view,

Mr Cordell’s ability to weigh the information relevant to the current proceedings is impaired due
to his tendency to misinterpret any information presented to him to fit into his entrenched

persecutory delusional beliefs. Moreover Mr Cordell presents with significant thought disorder
and it is unlikely that he will be able to give coherent instructions to the defence.

It is therefore my opinion that Mr Cordell lacks capacity to litigate and give appropriate

instructions to the defence.

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