11:20am Friday 31st July 2009
The wife of man found hanging in a St Albans city centre phone box has spoken of her grief and shock at the devastating news and criticised the doctors who “failed him.”
Andrew Pereira died last Thursday evening shortly after he was found slumped in the booth in the middle of St Albans.
Homeless Mr Pereira, 42, who had a history of mental illness and alcoholism, was discovered outside Barclays Bank, in St Peters Street, at around 7pm by passers-by.
Devastated wife Sharon, of Upper Highway, Abbots Langley, explained how her husband had been sectioned twice under the Mental Health Act in recent months and had only been released from a mental health unit at Watford General Hospital in June.
She admitted that he had shown signs of improvement in recent weeks but criticised staff at Watford’s Shrodells mental health unit for releasing him too soon.
She said: “I had seen him on the day that he had died in Watford. He seemed really positive.
“The next morning I had a call from the police telling me what had happened. I was so shocked. I just couldn’t believe what they were telling me.”
Mr Pereira had been referred to the Open Door night shelter in St Albans after his release around three weeks before. Just hours before his death he had been refused access to the centre by staff who claimed he was drunk.
But Mrs Pereira believes her husband should still have been under expert care in the Shrodells unit and was released too soon.
She added: “The system was supposed to protect him but it has let him down . I feel very, very angry and disappointed. I blame Shrodells. They shouldn’t have let him go in the first place.”
A spokesman for the Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said he could not comment on individual cases but added “Following the investigation into this case we will look at whether there is anything further we can do to minimise the chances of a similar incident, and implement any necessary changes.”
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