A doctor has told an inquest he would have re-admitted a former psychiatric patient to hospital.

Consultant psychiatrist Khalid Iqbal, who works at Lynfield Mount Hospital in Bradford, said he would have re-admitted Derek Chalmers after he had camped out at the hospital days after being released.

Mr Chalmers had told staff his life was not worth living and that he had stopped taking his medication, the inquest in Leeds was told yesterday.

Mr Iqbal, who did not treat Mr Chalmers, said: "Had I been in this situation, I would have admitted. Shortage of beds is not generally a problem if a psychiatrist says a patient's admittance is urgent."

Mr Chalmers, 55, had a history of mental illness and had been admitted to the hospital on May 10, 2005, then on July 1 until he was discharged on July 27.

On August 7, hospital staff alerted assistant ward manager Adam Jhugroo to Mr Chalmers, who was in a sleeping bag in the grounds.

Mr Jhugroo knew Mr Chalmers and spoke to him and was sufficiently concerned about him for him to be assessed at the hospital.

But Mr Jhugroo told Leeds Coroner David Hinchcliffe Mr Chalmers had turned down crisis help and then left.

His family did not hear from him again and on September 21 that year, his body was found in the garden of a home in East Keswick on the A659 Harewood Road midway between Leeds and Wetherby.

His body was badly decomposed and his cause of death could not be ascertained. He was in a sleeping bag, facing down and was surrounded by beer cans. His body showed no signs of assault.

The dad-of-five had suffered from manic depression since he was 20 and had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act following the breakdown of his marriage in 2000.

In March 2005, his daughter Louise Tindal, now aged 25, became increasingly concerned about her father's behaviour. He believed he had magical powers, was not eating or sleeping and carried a knife.

After being arrested, Mr Chalmers was admitted to Lynfield Mount on May 10.

Mr Chalmers, who lived with a new partner in Scholemoor Avenue, Scholemoor, was admitted again on July 1 and discharged on July 27.

His estranged wife Barbara Tindal and Louise said he had never acknowledged his mental health problems and for him to turn up at the hospital was a "revelation".

Mrs Tindal, who lives in Boston Spa, said: "Several times Derek had just walked and walked until the skin had come off his feet. I believe he was going to visit friends and we believe as a family that maybe he was walking to us."

In a letter to the Coroner, Miss Tindal said: "I wish to highlight the failings in the mental health service in relation to my dad who was suffering with severe mental health problems.

"He was in urgent need of in-patient treatment which he was refused when he asked for help."

The hearing continues.