A WOMAN tragically lost both her partner and her son just years apart after they were treated at hospitals in Essex.

Melanie Leahy’s partner Colin Flatt, 81, passed away mere months after being discharged from a hospital where he was “flanked by security guards, naked,” she said.

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The former professional footballer, who played for Barnet in the FA Trophy final at Wembley in 1972, was described by his partner as having a “good sense of humour”.

Colin, who also played for Southend United, Leyton Orient and Romford in the 1960s and 1970s was admitted to the hospital in 2021 for a heart condition.

However, staff there decided he needed to be transferred to a mental health facility.

During his treatment, Colin was “chemically quashed, deprived of his liberty and abused,” Melanie claims.

Just three months after being discharged from an inpatient mental health unit run by North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT), Colin died.

His death, along with Melanie’s son Matthew’s, is among thousands of cases being reviewed by the Lampard Inquiry into Essex’s mental health units.

Melanie has been one of the driving forces pressing for the inquiry after losing her two family members.

“How a man in his 80s [was left] lying in urine-soaked sheets at the bottom of a hospital bed while suffering from a severe infection, is what led me to be here today,” she told the inquiry in Chelmsford.

“Helpless, I just watched the man I loved deteriorate in front of me.”

She said she was still waiting for an inquest into his death with a feeling of “dread and deja vu”.

“I am bracing myself for the nightmare I know it will be,” she added.

‘Alone, malnourished, raped’

Melanie had previously given a separate statement about her son Matthew, who was found hanged in 2012 while under the care of NHS mental health services in the county.

She said the last eight days of her son’s life at the Linden Centre, Chelmsford, were spent “in a place… I truly believe was hell on Earth”.

Matthew was “alone, malnourished, over-medicated, scared, bleeding, bruised, raped, injected multiple times, ignored and frightened” while under the care of “so-called professionals”, she said

Melanie said she had been told Matthew’s body “was a crime scene” and she was not allowed to touch him.

Matthew had claimed staff had raped him during the night, which the hospital described as a “paranoid and suspicious thought” related to his “delusional disorder”.

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She said her son was a “beautiful soul”, who “was generous and kind.

“He excelled at school and he was smart. He was funny”

She said she “misses them both so much”.

Melanie has long campaigned for a public inquiry amid similar complaints of “failings” from other families.

The Lampard Inquiry, chaired by Baroness Kate Lampardm, is examining more than 2,000 deaths at NHS-run children and adult inpatient units in Essex between 2000 and 2023.

This includes people who died within three months of being discharged and those who died as inpatients receiving NHS-funded care in the independent sector.

‘Sinking feeling he wasn’t coming home’

Addressing the inquiry beside a photo of Colin, Melanie said: “In 2012 when Matthew died Colin was there, he was by my side.

“And I don’t know if I’d be here today if it wasn’t for Colin.

“How a man in his 80s ended up flanked by security guards, naked, lying in urine-soaked sheets at the bottom of a hospital bed while suffering from a severe infection and a haematoma, is what led me to be here today.”

In 2021, Colin became “confused” in the early evening, Melanie said.

“I know this is not uncommon as we get older, but it still was concerning.”

One day, Colin checked his heart rate with an at-home monitor and found it was 38bpm, which is very low.

After calling 111, paramedics quickly rushed him to the hospital.

“I sat down on the stairway and had this sinking feeling he wasn’t coming home, but I couldn’t have predicted why,” she said.

She alleged that on visiting Colin at the hospital he had “bruises all up and down his arms,” and was “surrounded” by security guards.

She told the inquiry that Colin had been “chemically restrained” and “didn’t know who [she] was”.

“Suffice to say within 19 weeks my partner was dead,” she added.

The Lampard Inquiry, which opened earlier this month, has been hearing directly from the families of those who died.

Melanie said she was “worried people would hear the name of an older man and assume he died because he was old”.

“But the way he died and what contributed to his death is why we are here today,” she added.

“His death was not suspicious, I lived it with him and I saw exactly what went wrong.”

‘You’d be happy to see him’

Melanie, who met her Colin more than 20 years ago, remembered him for his “good sense of humour,” which kept people laughing “even in the darkest of times.”

“He had lots of party tricks, one involved standing on his head which he did until he was 79,” she added.

“Colin never said a bad word about anyone, even in private. He would champion people and support them.

“He loved going to the pub so he could talk to people; the beer was just a bonus.”

She added: “If he walked through the door, you’d just be happy to see him because you knew you would be in safe hands.”

“And you’d learn something from a conversation with him.”

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‘This tragedy needs to stop’

Priya Singh, a partner at law firm Hodge Jones & Allen which is representing more than 120 victims and families, previously described the state of mental health services in Essex as an “ongoing scandal”.

“We, with the families, have fought for more than four years to get this statutory inquiry, so that it has the same powers as the Post Office and Covid Inquiries,” she said.

“This inquiry must get to the bottom of how these people died, to allow the families some closure and understanding of why their loved ones were lost whilst under the state’s care.

“It is only when we know what happened, can happen.

“Sadly, the situation in Essex is being repeated across the country daily, which is why this inquiry is of such fundamental importance.

“We will be pushing for interim recommendations to be brought in to prevent more people from dying while the inquiry is ongoing.

“This tragedy needs to stop.”

Marjorie Wallace, founder and chief executive of mental health charity SANE, added: “Over more than 40 years of being involved with inquiries, this is the largest ever investigation into mental health services I have seen in this country.

“The families have waited too long.

“They deserve answers to what happened to their sons, daughters, fathers and mothers at the darkest moments in their lives, so that faith in mental health services can be restored.”

Paul Scott, chief executive of Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT), said: “I want to say how sorry I am to anyone who has lost a loved one or whose care has not been of the standard it should have been.

“I welcome the Lampard Inquiry and we will do all we can to support Baroness Lampard and the team to deliver the answers that families and patients are seeking.”