A FORMER Irish police officer died in a Bangor park of hypothermia after being turned away from a mental health ward, an inquest heard.
Patrick John Cleary, 48, who originally came from County Limerick in Ireland, died on December 22 in the park behind Bangor bus station.
Prior to his death, the inquest heard, Mr Cleary, who was battling alcohol addiction and mental health problem, wasn’t living at home.
He was living in a bed and breakfast in Caernarfon.
At around midday on the day before his death, Mr Cleary visited a mental health ward at Ysbyty Gwynedd and asked for help.
However, staff at the ward, which only has the ability to admit people who have been referred, advised Mr Cleary to seek referral from his GP or a community mental health group.
After a brief visit to the hospital’s A and E department, which was full of patients who had suffered falls in the heavy snow and unable to refer him, Mr Cleary left Ysbyty Gwynedd.
Mr Cleary, of Pant y Crychddwr, Llanllyfni, near Caernarfon, admitted to having drunk several pints of Guinness when he appeared at the hospital, and though the post mortem examination discovered traces of both alcohol and prescription drugs in his blood, pathologist Dr Lord said they were not of a level that would have caused his death.
Dr Lord also told the inquest: “I really do not think it was long before he was found that he died.”
Coroner Dewi Pritchard-Jones said that though the cause of death was hypothermia, he was unable to say exactly what happened to Mr Cleary between the time he left the hospital and the time he had was found in the park opposite the Bible Gardens, by Bangor Cathedral.
He said: “My belief is that Mr Cleary had not intended to die, but he was overtaken by a chain of circumstances.
“He died as a result of an accident but exactly what the chain is I cannot say.”
At the end of the inquest relatives of Mr Cleary, who had travelled from Ireland, paid tribute to him.
They told how Mr Cleary suffered from post traumatic stress as a result of his time with the police in Ireland.
He met his second wife in Ireland and returned to live with her in North Wales, where he worked in the probation service for a period.
Paying tribute to a man they said “loved his family unconditionally,“a family member said: “Patrick never stopped trying to fight his demons.”
They ended the statement by saying in Gaelic,”rest in peace.”