SWEEPING changes will be made at a secure mental hospital where a child killer absconded and raped a 14-year-old girl.

A damning independent report into the running of The Hayes Independent Hospital in Pilning, South Gloucestershire, revealed a catalogue of failings.

The report was commissioned by the National Autistic Society (NAS), which runs the hospital, after 21-year-old patient Darren Harkin escaped and raped a schoolgirl at knifepoint in February.

The team behind the report recommended higher risk psychiatric patients are moved out and referrals from high-security units are scrapped. Three patients have already been relocated and two more could follow them.

An urgent shake-up of staff at the hospital has been demanded – with a management consultant lined up to lead the changes.

The 94-page report, which examined the factors behind Harkin's escape, found hospital staff did not have the know-how to deal with patients' complex needs and management was lacking.

Steve Webb, Northavon MP, said the hospital was ill-equipped to deal with its patients.

He said: "There needs to be a root-and-branch review of who is sent to low-security units such as the Hayes and it is vital that lessons are learned from this very serious lapse. My feeling is that clearly the NAS has skills and where they are helping and supporting people with autism they are good at what they do.

"But the blend of patients changed over time and the NAS was not equipped for those people. My concern is that they didn't raise the alarm bell.

"It just went on and it got out of control. It was a tragedy waiting to happen."

The escape of Harkin, who stabbed his six-month-old stepbrother to death in his cot in Hartcliffe in 2000, was the latest in a series of lapses at the low-security Hayes Hospital, a 12-bedroom unit housed in a former farm.

Harkin leapt over a 2.5m fence at the hospital and travelled 25 miles to Chepstow, where he raped the 14-year-old.

The report revealed that schizophrenic Harkin escaped after being granted 30 minutes' "unescorted leave".

The Evening Post revealed in September that Harkin was allowed to build up a stash of horror and porn films while being detained at the hospital and was also taken on day trips to watch horror films.

At Hayes, his behaviour deteriorated to such an extent he was banned from being alone with female carers.

But none of this was made known to the police when Harkin escaped on February 2 and no public warnings were issued.

The review team was unable to offer a "structured account" of how Harkin came to have explicit DVDs in his possession.

Before his escape, Harkin had played pool with his most trusted support worker, the report revealed.

Staff statements showed Harkin had ben allowed to walk "briskly ahead" of his supervisors for "some weeks".

On the day in question, Harkin walked through a gate that had been left unlocked "for years" and out of his support workers' line of sight, before tackling the fence.

After he was caught, Harkin was sent to maximum security Broadmoor Hospital indefinitely by a judge after admitting two counts of rape, escape and burglary.

In June, registered sex offender Tamer Mahmoud, 26, escaped from staff while he was at St Werburgh's City Farm, where he was being interviewed for the chance to be taken on a work placement.

Before that, an attempted murderer, who had been at high security mental hospital Broadmoor, became violent towards staff at the hospital when he was taken to a nearby pub and plied with alcohol.

Another patient managed to escape from the charity-run unit and threw himself under a train at Montpelier station in Bristol.

Mark Lever, NAS chief executive, said security would be beefed up at the hospital, which currently houses 10 patients, with a new 10ft fence and a new entrance and exit.

He said: "I recognise how residents feel and how this (the Harkin escape) would have dented their confidence. But we have also had letters of support from them and we want to reassure them by saying the safety of residents and patients is paramount.

"We commissioned this report so they can have confidence in us."

The inquiry found that an "isolated, inward-looking and incoherent" culture contributed to Harkin's escape. Despite being "deeply and expertly committed", care staff had not been provided with enough training to ensure a "low-arousal environment" for patients, the report said.

Mr Lever said the hospital needed to improve at caring for patients with complex behavioural problems and said the NAS was seeking an organisation to take over the running of the hospital.

Of the Harkin escape, Mr Lever said: "This was an absolutely terrible incident and my sympathy is firmly with the girl involved and her family.

"I am committed to doing everything in my power to make sure that nothing like this can ever happen again.

"The NAS accepts – in full – the recommendations of the independent inquiry that we asked for.

"We have already started to take action on several of the points raised. An incident like this must never be allowed to happen again."

The Hayes is the only independent hospital of its kind in the country. It deals with some of the most difficult cases and claims its one-to-one programme reintegrates patients into the community when possible.

All patients are referred from other secure units by either Primary Care Trusts, the Department of Health or the Ministry of Justice.

All have Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism which is a lifelong disability affecting how a person makes sense of the world, and all have been detained under the Mental Health Act.

Wansdyke MP Dan Norris, a former child protection officer, said lessons should be learned from the tragedy.

He said: "Obviously I welcome the NAS statement acknowledging they were at fault and the commitment to rapidly changing.

"However, I caution that every time a terrible incident takes place at a UK institution this is the normal response, but such tragedies keep happening.

"I hope that these welcome words are strongly acted upon and the lessons are truly learnt."