The death of an Ethiopian judge who 'misled' NHS staff into thinking his mental health was improving 14 years after killing a woman has been ruled as suicide. Telahun Tedola fled to the UK in 2005 after being 'tortured' in prison following a regime change in his home country, Rochdale Coroners Court heard this week.
His mental health declined, before he strangled fellow patient Rosalind McManus to death at Birch Hill Hospital, Rochdale, in 2007. Mr Tedola spent 10 years at the high-security Ashworth hospital, in Liverpool, before moving to Prestwich in 2017.
Staff at the site commonly known as Prestwich Hospital were pleased with the progress Mr Tedola, who had paranoid schizophrenia, had been making and plans were being drawn up for his discharge. But after he failed to return from unaccompanied leave on August 22, 2021, police found a note in Mr Tedola's bedroom telling them where to find his body.
