A watchdog is investigating why it took police seven days to find a missing high-security psychiatric patient who hanged himself in hospital grounds.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission is examining the way West Yorkshire Police carried out its investigation into the disappearance of 31-year-old psychotic schizophrenic Peter Barnes.
The alarm was raised when he went missing earlier this month from Cygnet Hospital in Wyke after staff let him out alone for a 15-minute cigarette break.
It took a week until police searching the area on October 20 found him in nearby woodland.
His mother Karen Barnes said the delay in discovering him should never have happened and she hoped that “lots of questions needing to be answered” would result from the IPCC probe.
West Yorkshire Police self-referred the incident to the IPCC and the investigation will focus on whether the force’s missing person’s report policy was complied with.
For more on this story, see today's T&A.
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