Ex-footballer's death 'challenging case to unpick'

The death of a former professional footballer was "a really difficult and very challenging case to try to unpick," a pathologist said.

Colin Flatt, 81, who had played for Southend United, Leyton Orient and Barnet, died in September 2021.

A jury at Essex Coroner's Court has been told how Flatt, who had dementia, had been treated in several settings from May 2021, including at Basildon Hospital where he stabbed himself in the abdomen before falling from height on to a glass table on 27 July.

Giving evidence, Dr Virginia Louise Fitzpatrick-Swallow told the inquest how the injuries he sustained ultimately led to him developing bronchopneumonia and other health issues that caused his death.

The jury heard how he had first been taken to Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, in May 2021 where he was restrained.

He was later detained under the Mental Health Act and taken to Goodmayes Hospital and two different care homes before being admitted to Basildon Hospital in July 2021.

The inquest was told how once there, he was admitted to Florence Nightingale ward where he became "agitated", stabbing himself in the abdomen with scissors.

Flatt then ran from the ward, falling from the first floor and landing on a glass table below.

He was treated for his injuries in the hospital's A&E department, but the jury was told he ultimately never recovered and died on 7 September.

Giving evidence via video link, Fitzpatrick-Swallow said: "This is a really difficult and very challenging case to try to unpick and understand."

Flatt's cause of death was given as bronchopneumonia, damage to his lungs and congestive cardiac failure.

This was said to have been caused by "complications arising from complex hospital admissions", his abdominal injury from the incident on 27 July and "behavioural disturbances requiring sedation".

"It's really hard to understand what relative contributions each one had," Fitzpatrick-Swallow told the court.

Flatt's partner of 19 years, Melanie Leahy, also gave evidence and is due to resume her testimony on Tuesday.

Leahy has been one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the Lampard Inquiry into more than 2,000 mental health deaths in Essex between 2000 and 2023.

In 2012, her son Matthew, 20, died while he was under the care of NHS mental health services in the county.

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