Ex-footballer treated like 'prisoner', says widow

An ex-professional footballer was treated like a "prisoner" before his death, his widow has told an inquest.

Colin Flatt, 81, was shuffled between healthcare settings before he fell from height on to a glass table at Basildon Hospital in July 2021.

Injuries suffered by the former Southend United and Leyton Orient striker ultimately led to his death two months later, Essex Coroner's Court has been told.

Melanie Leahy, his partner of 19 years, told the inquest Flatt had been "petrified" in the months before his death, while he was detained by doctors.

Flatt, who had dementia, was first admitted to Broomfield Hospital, near Chelmsford, in May 2021, having complained of earache and a low heart rate.

The inquest heard he was experiencing "behavioural disturbances", leading to Flatt being regularly sedated and detained.

Leahy said he was kept in a room with no TV or radio, and where there was "constant hammering and banging" from construction work.

"If I'd been kept in those conditions, I would have been fighting to get out," she told the courtroom in Chelmsford.

"An adult male not even allowed to go out and walk in the grounds. He'd done nothing wrong, he wasn't a prisoner."

Leahy described how her partner was "begging me to get him out" as he was rotated between healthcare facilities.

She said he was "petrified" and had been "threatened" due to campaigning work she had done about mental health services in Essex, following the death of her 20-year-old son, Matthew, in 2012.

"The amount of medication he was on was incredible. He had bruises all down his legs, chest, back [and] arms," Leahy added.

She became emotional at times while giving evidence across Monday and Tuesday, saying at one point: "I've waited five years to say all this, so it needs to come out and it is important."

Shortly after being transferred to Basildon Hospital, Flatt stabbed himself with a pair of scissors before falling from the first floor. He was then taken to A&E.

"I was there for 14 hours watching his stomach grow, with blood seeping through the skin, while they were arguing about how they were going to help him," Leahy recalled.

Flatt continued to deteriorate and died at home on 7 September.

Medical professionals from Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust are due to give evidence at the coroner's hearing later.

The inquest continues.

Additional reporting by Leigh Milner.

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