THE NHS have delayed the release of a "damning" report into why a killer was allowed out of a mental hospital only to murder and eat another man.

The findings of an investigation into triple-killer Peter Bryan, who murdered Walthamstow resident and South Woodford handyman Brian Cherry in February 2004, were due to be made public this spring.

But health chiefs have said the enquiry will not now be released for at least another three weeks on the request of Mr Cherry's family, who have been grieving on the fifth anniversary of his brutal death.

Schizophrenic Peter Bryan first pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1993 after he beat to death a 20-year-old shop worker.

He was sent to a mental hospital soon after, but was conditionally discharged in 2002, despite concerns he was sexually aroused by violence.

Bryan was then sent to a different hospital before being moved again to another unit, the Newham Centre for Mental Health, in February 2004.

Just a week after the move, medical staff decided he should be allowed as much free reign as he wanted, but must return to the ward at night.

That exact same day Bryan travelled to Walthamstow, where he gained entry to the home of 47-year-old Mr Cherry before attacking him a claw hammer and screwdriver at around 7pm.

After making sure Mr Cherry was dead, Bryan sawed off his arms and left leg.

He then partly cut his right leg and the top of his head.

Horrified police officers burst in to discover Bryan frying part of Mr Cherry's brain in a pan of butter.

Bryan was then locked away in Broadmoor, but then was moved again to a medium risk ward.

It was there in April 2004 that he killed his third victim, fellow patient Richard Loudwell, 60, who was awaiting trial for manslaughter.

He battered him on the head and tied a ligature around his neck.

Bryan said if he had not been interrupted he would have eaten him raw and described his victim as "the oldest and weakest on the ward and the lowest in the food chain".

In March 2005 Bryan was sentenced to life in prison, but at an appeal hearing in February 2006 Chief Justice Lord Phillips controversially ruled he could be released within 15 years if doctors were satisfied he was no longer a threat to the public.

A spokesman for NHS London said the report examining the way the authorities handled Bryan would not be made public until the end of June at the earliest.