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War veteran dies after hospital assault by dementia patient | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
A war veteran has died after being beaten by a dementia patient as he lay in a hospital bed, his family have said. | |
Richard Bowman, 86, was found in a pool of blood with severe head, leg and arm injuries after the incident at West Suffolk hospital, Bury St Edmunds. He had a skin graft after the attack but died on Saturday, 12 days later. | |
It is believed he had been attacked by a dementia patient wielding a bottle. | |
A spokesman for West Suffolk hospital said: "We would like to take this opportunity to extend our sincere condolences to the patient's family. We are taking this incident extremely seriously and are carrying out a full internal investigation." | |
A Suffolk police spokesman confirmed the force was investigating reports of an assault at the hospital on 25 November. A post-mortem examination found Bowman's death was the result of natural causes and the death is not being treated as suspicious. | |
He said: "This matter will now be dealt with by the coroner." | He said: "This matter will now be dealt with by the coroner." |
Bowman's family told the Daily Mail that their relative should never have been left alone with the patient. | Bowman's family told the Daily Mail that their relative should never have been left alone with the patient. |
His son Charles Hawes, 43, told the newspaper: "He was lying on his bed getting ready to fall asleep and this chap just came over and started laying into him with a bottle. He was much too weak and elderly to fight back." | |
Hawes questioned the post-mortem examination finding. | |
"We don't know for sure if he died because of the beating," Hawes said. "But I can only say what everyone else is saying – it didn't help his situation. His body was fighting something else." | |
Bowman, from Exning near Ely, Cambridgeshire, served with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers before running a number of businesses, including an estate agency. | Bowman, from Exning near Ely, Cambridgeshire, served with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers before running a number of businesses, including an estate agency. |
He had been admitted to hospital with a chest infection. | He had been admitted to hospital with a chest infection. |
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