A MAN who fell to his death from the top floor of a bus station car park had returned to the same spot of a failed suicide bid 18 years earlier, an inquest has heard.

Paul Crossland from Liversedge told staff at Calderdale Royal's mental health Ashdale Ward, where he was free to come and go as a voluntary in-patient, that he was going out to get a newspaper.

But suspicions were raised when he was seen getting into a taxi, the Bradford inquest was told today.

Ward staff thought it was "odd" and tried to ring him on an old phone number. When they could not reach him they called the taxi company and discovered he was on his way to Huddersfield Bus Station - the same place he had jumped from in 1998 but survived with life-changing injuries.

Police were called but shortly after 11am on February 18 last year the 54-year-old, who had a long-history of depression with debts of up to £10,000 and whose father had died and whose brother committed suicide, was seen falling from the bus station multi-storey. He died from severe head and chest injuries.

CCTV footage showed Mr Crossland was alone at the top of the car park before the fall.

Clinical team leader at the Dales Unit Darren Haigh told the inquest: "Paul was not perceived to be a risky service user. However, him getting into a taxi just felt odd, unusual."

Mr Crossland, had been re-admitted after Christmas 2016 and had been receiving electroconvulsive therapy which had worked in the past, however starting the next lot of treatment had been delayed because of tests for dizzy spells.

A serious incident investigation was carried out by South West Yorkshire Hospital Trust which found the ward's practices in place were appropriate and that staff followed the practice and policy in terms of caring for Mr Crossland who was a single man.

Mr Crossland's sister Beverley Robinson had initially raised concerns her brother should have been sectioned and not let out of the ward alone but consultant psychiatrist Amjadil Pervaiz said that would not have been justified because Mr Crossland had insight into his condition and was co-operating with treatment.

Despite no root cause faults being found at the hospital trust, some lessons had been learned said Mark Thornton who led the serious incident investigation.

Staff must now make sure patients' contact details are updated if they are re-admitted as in Mr Crossland's case, outcomes of patients' time off the ward must also be recorded and a crackly intercom used by the taxi driver to pick up Mr Crossland on the day of his death has been fixed but not replaced.

Assistant deputy coroner Oliver Longstaff said Mr Crossland had intentionally taken his own life.