A man arrested on Monday for beating a woman to death with a bottle in Leeuwarden is a psychiatric patient who is considered to be dangerous and aggressive, news agency ANP says on Wednesday.

The 38-year-old turned himself in to police following the bottle attack which left a 68-year-old woman dead. The man, named by RTL news as Udo D, had also stabbed a 23-year-old woman earlier in the day and may have attacked two others, ANP says.

Police, the justice ministry, city council and social workers were all aware that the man was a danger to the public but were powerless to do anything about it, ANP reports.

He was sent to a psychiatric prison in 2005 but was released at the beginning of August this year.

According to the city’s mayor, Ferd Crone, there were no legal options to keep him locked up, despite his propensity to violence.

Apart from a few minor incidents, the man had not caused any trouble since his release, Crone said. ‘There was no reason to arrest him again, otherwise we certainly would have done so,’ the mayor told the paper.