A mother whose schizophrenic son died of a heroin overdose has launched a campaign for a new halfway house for people suffering from serious mental illness.

Yannick Dickens, 38, a paranoid schizophrenic, was found dead in a bed and breakfast room five months after being released from a five-month stay in a psychiatric hospital.

His mother Sue Baumgardt, 60, believes that if temporary supported accommodation had been available while he was waiting for a permanent arrangement he might still be alive.

She said: "There is serious over-demand for what permanent supported accommodation there is.

"We desperately need a temporary facility that could provide at least some support while people are waiting.

"I can't bring Yannick back but in his memory I want to try to save all those other people out there who have nobody fighting for them."

Ms Baumgardt, of Stoneham Road, Brighton, said her son had suffered many breakdowns and was terrified of turning into his father, who had been severely mentally ill.

He refused to accept his condition because he was so frightened, refused medication and got much worse.

Ms Baumgardt said: "His way of taking control of his life was to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol, as many mentally ill people choose to do."

His life became a pattern of breakdowns, drug abuse, bizarre and sometimes violent behaviour and hospitalisation. After his last period in hospital, from January to May last year, he was put into bed and breakfast accommodation in Hove then moved to a hotel in Brighton where Ms Baumgardt said there were drug users and families staying, and drug dealers congregating outside.

Ms Baumgardt said: "It was completely unsuitable and I kept telling his doctors he would either end up back in hospital or end up dead. But I still lost him. That's why I want somewhere for people to stay where someone could keep an eye on them while they are waiting for a permanent home."

Maria Crowley, manager of mental health services at the Sussex Partnership NHS Trust, said: "The lack of supported housing for people with the dual diagnoses of drug or alcohol addiction and mental illness in Brighton and Hove is a big problem.

"Our accommodation strategy group has been looking at this specific issue and we are hoping to open a new housing unit for these kind of patients soon."