Staff knew mental health patients ran away, claims father of man killed by train

Richard Caseby told Birmingham coroner’s court that patients running away was regarded as a common occurrence at Priory hospital Woodbourne, despite the fact they had been sectioned. Photograph: Priory Group

The father of a 23-year-old who died after running away from a mental health hospital by jumping over a fence said staff knew patients regularly absconded.

Matthew Caseby died after being struck by a train in September 2020, having run away from the Priory hospital Woodbourne in Birmingham where he had been detained as a mental health patient.