Hospital 'sorry' for man's death

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Altnagelvin hospital in Londonderry has apologised to the family of a man who died three days after going missing from the hospital.

The body of Harry Jack, 44, was found in a field two miles from the hospital in November 2006.

The hospital was told of his whereabouts on the day he went missing, but failed to pass the information on to the police.

A spokesperson from the hospital said they have now changed their practices.

Mr Jack had been treated for a fractured skull.

On Friday, a report from the Police Ombudsman found that the PSNI were not to blame for Mr Jack's death.

Al Hutchinson said his investigation showed the PSNI "acted appropriately" on the information it received about Mr Jack.

But he found "deficiencies" in some of their missing persons investigations.

A woman who had seen Mr Jack leave said she contacted the hospital and asked them to pass her mobile number on to the police, but no-one rang her back.

The ombudsman said that a call from a woman who had seen Mr Jack leave the hospital was not passed on to the police.

He said the PSNI had "acted quickly and appropriately on any information they did receive".

But he said there had been some "administrative failures" in the PSNI's handling of the case.

Mr Hutchinson said police had failed to conduct a formal assessment of the risks faced by Mr Jack, and had also failed to complete all relevant paperwork.

Review

The ombudsman recommended a review of all long-term missing persons cases in Northern Ireland.

He said that in a review of 10 such cases, police had failed to satisfactorily progress, maintain or record details in half of them.

Mr Jack's family has called for an inquiry into his death.

"We're all still broken hearted - there are days you think you see him in the house," said his sister Catherine Nixon.

"We just want closure for the family, especially for my mother."

The PSNI said it welcomed Mr Hutchinson's findings and that it would carry out a review of its missing persons policy.