The odds of Allan Schoenborn being granted escorted leave outside a psychiatric hospital are less likely now that information has surfaced saying his ex-wife lives nearby.

The controversial decision will be reconsidered in a new hearing, B.C. attorney-general Barry Penner said Wednesday.

Penner said a new hearing would be held, taking into account information about the location of his ex-wife, Darcie Clarke. That information was not included in Clarke's victim impact statement.

"It was never a done deal without that information," Laurie Dawkins, a spokeswoman for B.C. Mental Health and Addictions Services, added Wednesday.

Schoenborn's request for temporary escorted leaves went before the B.C. Review Board earlier this month and the director of the psychiatric facility was given the authority to decide when he might take that leave.

Before that decision was made, Dr. Johann Brink and his team at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Port Coquitlam made every effort to track down members of Schoenborn's family, including Clarke, with no success, said Dawkins.

"Not surprisingly, in the case of terrible crimes, they (family) want to be anonymous," she said. "It doesn't mean people didn't try (to find her). They did."

Dawkins said it will take three to six months before a decision on Schoenborn's leave is made. During that time Brink will consider a variety of factors, including risks his patient poses to the community, before approving the request.

The fact Clarke lives in the community counts as one of those risks, she said.

"This is a risk, so it absolutely has to be considered."

Brink told radio station CKNW on Wednesday that he didn't know Clarke lives nearby.
"This is new information, and this is the kind of information where our deliberations and our decision-making may well change as a result of this," he said.

"Of course we do not want to place anybody in harm's way. We certainly would not do that in any deliberate or careless manner."

Schoenborn was found not criminally responsible for killing his kids in Merritt three years ago, saying he took their lives to prevent them from being molested.

Clarke found the children dead in her home on April 6, 2008. Ten-year-old Kaitlynne was in her bedroom, her throat slashed, while eight-year-old Max and five-year-old Cordon were lying on the couch, suffocated.

Last year, Schoenborn requested at his first review hearing to be discharged completely from the hospital, but was denied on the grounds he was still a threat to society.

At a review board hearing last week, Schoenborn said this time around he wants to keep taking his medication and remain living at the hospital.

"I'm looking for the answers to what happened, and I don't want anything to gum up the works," he said.

He said he wanted the escorted leave to do simple things, such as look for a job or have a cup of coffee.

Crown lawyer Lyle Hillaby supported the supervised visits, but told the review board that Schoenborn "is not to be trusted" because of his history with violence and anger.

Scott Hicks, Schoenborn's lawyer, said his client had committed no violent act over the past year and that his disorder was in remission, so it was "realistic" to grant him community visits at Brink's discretion.

jhewlett@kamloopsnews.ca