CONCERNS have emerged over the way another mental health patient absconded and died before Janet Muller escaped from Mill View Mental Hospital and was killed.

Earlier this week The Argus revealed a coroner’s report to prevent future deaths was submitted over another woman who died under the care of the Hove hospital.

Today we can reveal one of these reports was also filed over a man’s death after he escaped on the way to hospital.

Bruce Longden was being transferred from Mill View in Nevill Avenue for an X-ray at the Royal County Sussex Hospital in Brighton when he escaped from under the noses of nurses and travelled to Saltdean where he threw himself off the cliffs to his death in September 2014.

The Coroners Society of England and Wales produced a report to prevent future deaths following the tragic case after the inquest began on March 18 last year.

This came five days after Janet Muller’s body was found burned alive in the boot of a car in Crawley. She had escaped Mill View between 10pm and 10.15pm on March 12, having climbed over a fence which has since been altered.

In the damning report into Mr Longden’s death, coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley said: “During the course of the inquest the evidence revealed matters giving rise to concern.

“In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken.

“In the circumstances it is my statutory duty to report you.

“The matters of concern are as follows: “Sussex Partnership Trust are apparently unaware of their own protocols in connection with transfer of patients to the acute hospital and the observation and therapeutic engagement policy.

“These policies were not employed.

“If they had been, the outcome may have been different for Mr Bruce Longden as he would have been specialised and accompanied and would have not have had the opportunity to abscond.”

Ms Hamilton-Deeley also pointed out downfalls in the communication skills of the trust, saying it had failed to appreciate the significance of Mr Longden’s condition and that it had failed to understand the terminology used by the mental health liaison team.

She said there was a failure to report the absconding to Sussex Police in time, resulting in a window of opportunity to search for and potentially find Mr Longden.

A neighbour of Mr Longden, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “There’s definitely something going on there.

“It’s odd that the trust is saying this investigation was going to be spread widely but when the trust governor Karen Braysher wants answers she doesn’t seem to get them.

“And neither have the public.

“Maybe the family are told, but the tragic case with Bruce was that he had no family so there was nobody to fight his corner.

“It was easy for him to be brushed aside.”

A spokeswoman from the Sussex NHS Partnership Trust, which runs Mill View, said: “As with any tragic incident of this nature in our service, Bruce Longden’s death was the subject of a full and comprehensive internal investigation.

“Action taken since his death includes the revision of the procedures we follow when transferring our patients, the enhancement of the mental health liaison service at the Royal Sussex County Hospital and further training for clinical staff.

“We would like to extend once again our sincere condolences to Mr Longden’s family.”

TIMELINE OF A STRING OF TRAGEDIES

THIS week The Argus revealed Miss Muller was the latest of five vulnerable women to have died in four years under the care of the same ward at Mill View Hospital.

  • After Janet Muller’s death Karen Braysher, governor of the Brighton and Hove NHS Sussex Partnership, emailed the chief executive Colm Donaghy to say she was “devastated that yet another life has been lost from Caburn Ward”.
  • Mr Donaghy wrote back to say an internal review would be shared widely but then told The Argus this would not be an open investigation.
  • Christopher Jeffrey-Shaw, 28, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for Janet Muller’s manslaughter after she escaped and was found in the boot of a burnt-out car in Crawley on March 13.
  • The Argus uncovered four patients under the watch of Mill View mental health hospital committed suicide between March and October 2010 and a review was carried out before recommendations were made to improve patient safety.
  •  Since 2011 there were five deaths of women under the care of Caburn Ward, the last being Janet Muller. Another died of natural causes.
  • A coroner previously stepped in to call for more safety measures after Danuta Corbett died while in its care in 2013, again revealed by The Argus.
  • We exclusively revealed emails from a concerned governor referringmaking reference to male night-time callers and security issues in which she said, “I am devastated that yet another life has been lost from Caburn Ward at Mill View”.
  • The Argus also revealed that Janet Muller had escaped over a fence in the garden of Caburn Ward, a fence that had been given the go-ahead for an extension and a climb-proof makeover on March 3 – the day Janet was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and 10 days before her death.
  • On Friday The Argus broke the story that the Care Quality Commission had not ruled out carrying out an inspection of the hospital.