THE MUM of an Oswestry man who died after absconding from a Shrewsbury mental health unit says he will be remembered well by his family.

Lee Davies, 36, died after suffering a head injury after taking a number of different drugs in June 2019, after he left Redwoods in Shrewsbury, where he had been sectioned under section three of the Mental Health Act.

At the inquest into his death, which finished on Thursday, a jury ruled that staff at the facility, run by the Midlands Partnership NHS Trust, did not adequately consider Mr Davies's high risk of absconding but also felt it did not affect the overall outcome of his death.

It was reported that he climbed over a fence to escape the facility, having done so twice already in the days before his death on June 18, with assistant Shropshire coroner Joanne Lees critical of how the garden fence was structured.

Christell Harris, Mr Davies's mother, felt the facility still needs to learn lessons from the incident, but hopes people will remember her son as a man with a sense of fun.

"We were getting on better – I had invited him to come back with me to live, after his treatment had finished," she said.

"But unfortunately for him, and his daughter, he never got to meet her and we’ve all just met her. He’s not going to see his children grow up.

"I am satisfied that recommendations are going to be made but I think further lessons are needed.

"Their record keeping – they need to make it more efficient. I read in the report that there were days still missing out of his report and they could do things a lot more efficiently than they do.

"Their safeguarding of their patients – that’s what it is about.

"Lee wasn’t well – it wasn’t just as an adult. As a child, he had a psychologist and that mental illness was there.

"He wasn’t a bad lad – we will tell his children the truth, and we won’t lie to his daughter. She knows everything but he had a good heart.

"He was fun to be around but unfortunately it was lifestyle which is something he chose.

"I hope that people will remember him well."

Ms Lees told Mrs Harris that she was considering a report to Midlands Partnership Trust about the way the fence was surrounded by objects, such as a flowerbed – which has now been destroyed – or a shrubbery that allowed for patients to use as a step-up to escape.

She added: "The are no winners or losers here – you have lost your son.

"I am considering making a formal report but let me be clear – a report like this is not a punishment for the Midlands Partnership NHS trust but it is an exercise in learning.

"In my experience an inquest is never going to give you all the answers, but I do know form experience that families feel better that there has been some learning."

On Wednesday, the inquest took verbal evidence from three members of staff at Redwoods, including Matthew Dance who was the acting ward manager at Laurel Ward, where Mr Davies had been detained.

He told the inquest he had taken the decision to downgrade the level of observations on Mr Davies from enhanced to intermittent, meaning a staff member did not have continuous sight of him.

However Sandra Gonnolly, who carried out an investigation on behalf of Midlands Partnership, told the court she felt Mr Dance's decision was the correct one.

She said: "Enhanced observations may have reduced the risk of absconding but would have not eliminated it.

"It was a reasonable assessment to change the observation level based on engagement, face to face, and it was made with a second staff member, so it was a reasonable decision."

Ms Lees also raised concerns regarding potential gaps in treatment for both mental health issues and substance misuse.