Michael Bryn Jones feared somebody was going to kill him and his family, inquest told

A mental health patient found dead in woods 80 days after going missing from hospital feared someone was going to “kill him and his family”, an inquest heard.

The inquest at Caernarfon heard how Michael Bryn Jones, 38, had left his home in Pleasant Street, Llandudno, on Saturday, April 2, last year taking the last bus of the evening to Bangor and then getting a taxi to the Hergest mental health unit at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor.

Instead of being admitted, however, at 12.54am he was referred to the emergency department but then left minutes after arriving at 1.23am without seeing anyone.

After a massive search, Mr Jones was found hanging in woods at Caerhun, Bangor, on June 21 by children building a den.

Mr Jones’s brother Gavin said before his disappearance Mr Jones had told him somebody had hacked his Facebook account and that he seemed “agitated” and “extremely paranoid”.

Mr Jones said: “He said he had received death threats. He sounded very frightened.”

He said the last he saw of his brother was when he went to take the bus to go to Ysbyty Gwynedd.

Their mother Eileen Slinn said her son, a gardener and former chef, was one of five children and he suffered “on and off with anxiety and depression”.

She told how the death of his father on his birthday and the deaths of other close relatives had led him to begin drinking heavily.

Ms Slinn said: “He was absolutely convinced he had upset people on Facebook. He was very Welsh nationalist.

“He said he was getting messages from people saying they were going to kill him and his family.”

At the end of March last year Michael had been admitted to the Hergest unit but was discharged after six days with a plan for him to be treated at home in daily visits by psychiatric nurses.

Hergest mental health nurse Debra Burnstold the hearing: “He told me he had been drinking quite heavily and going on religious sites and putting his opinions on these and getting very negative results back and he felt scared for his safety.”

Miss Slinn said the family wanted him to be treated at Hergest. She said: “We pleaded with them to see he needed to be in and be safe. They said there was a plan and they couldn’t possibly change it. As a family we felt we weren’t being listened to at all.”

Earlier, North Wales Police Chief Inspector Mark Armstrong told the inquest that CCTV images showed Mr Jones leaving the hospital site at 3.20am on Sunday, April 3, and turning left. The last sighting of him was at 5.57am when he was seen walking towards Llandudno by motorists who decided to stop but could not find him.

Police, rescue groups and his family carried out extensive searches for Mr Jones.

North Wales assistant coroner Nicola Jones said there had been “a missed opportunity” after Mr Jones had been sent from the Hergest unit to the emergency department on April 2.

She said: “Had there then been a call . . . there could have been a more effective search for him. There was more than a golden hour here wasn’t there. He was here until 3.20am.”

The inquest continues.