THE INSIDE STORY ON PALACE INTRUDERS

DEEP INSIDE Buckingham Palace a 43-year-old schizophrenic stands surrounded by members of the Royal Protection Squad.

They listen in tense silence as the woman describes what it is like to hear voices inside her head, how she was taken into custody for her own protection and how her condition has left her feeling vulnerable and confused.

But this is not a crisis situation. Unlike Michael Fagan, who was famously discovered sitting on the Queen's bed after shinning up a drainpipe in 1982, or John Austin, who climbed a 21ft fence to enter Kensington Palace in 1996 and was later admitted to a psychiatric hospital, Janey Antoniou poses no threat to the royals.

She is an invited guest, asked to the palace to help train some of the Royal Family's most trusted staff in mental health issues. She is part of a new partnership between the squad, Buckingham Palace managers and one of Britain's largest mental health charities, the National Schizophrenia Fellowship (NSF).

Officers with the Royal Protection Squad, an arm of the Metropolitan Police which safeguards the royals and their various homes, are often thrust into the front line in dealing with the mentally ill.

Research by NSF found that more than one-third of people who come into contact with mental health services do so through the police.

"Buckingham Palace attracts a lot of tourists," by LAURA SMITH says Inspector Roger Little, Royalty Protection training manager. "The sheer volume of people means that, by the law of averages, we will come into contact with people suffering from some form of mental illness. We need to equip our officers with ways of dealing with them."

The training package follows two years of research into how best to inform a cynical profession on a feared and little-understood subject. As Julie Trainer, who runs the course, explains: "We are trying to get away from the idea of mentally ill people as knife- wielding maniacs. People with schizophrenia are far more likely to harm themselves than anyone else. One in 10 commits suicide."

In the next few months every Royal Protection officer will undergo a two-hour training session on a range of mental illnesses with presentations, videos and group discussion. As part of the course officers are required to listen to a tape on a personal stereo while another officer asks them questions.

The four-minute tape simulates what it is like to hear voices, which say thing like: "You are worthless, you'll never amount to anything, they're laughing at you." Most find it impossible to answer even the most simple questions with the barrage of abuse ringing in their ears.

The reaction from staff is a strong one and feedback has been positive.

There are plans to extend the training to other arms of the force.

Inspector Little says: "I have been working in this field for years and this has definitely changed the way that I deal with people. It gives you the chance to think about things you haven't considered before."

Up to 24 staff at a time gather in the training suite in an annexe of the palace to hear Mrs Antoniou, who is currently free of the symptoms of her illness, attempt to describe in words what it is like to suffer from schizophrenia.

For most of the 20 or so people in the room this is the first time they have met a person with a mental illness who is well at the time. They usually encounter people at their worst. Their curiosity makes them as inquisitive as children.

Mrs Antoniou says: "As soon as I finish talking they start asking a million and one questions. They want to know what causes me to be ill, whether they should go along with it if somebody has a delusion, and how I would like to be treated.

"I tell them four things. To be honest, to listen to me, to tell me what you are going to do and to treat me with respect. Of course my real wish list would be to never be ill again, but this is the nearest I can get."

Copyright 2001
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