A kind and generous dad, who was found dead in a hotel room two days after he was discharged from Fairfield General, thought "people were out to get him", an inquest has heard.
Mark Clayton, 46, was tragically found dead at the Victoria Hotel in Bury on August 2, 2020, when staff forced their way into his room after he failed to check out on time.
The dad, who had told healthcare staff he was going back to university to finish his final year of a degree in music production, had booked just one night in the hotel, and told his family and friends he was “far away” from Bury when they spoke with him the night before he was found dead.
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Senior coroner Joanne Kearsley heard that Mark, who had been adopted by John and Wendy Clayton when he was a baby, had been struggling with paranoid thoughts for a while, often believing that people were “out to get him”, and fearing he was being poisoned.
His paranoia meant Mark moved around often, asking dad John, who is in his 80s, to help him move - something the devoted father was always happy to help his son with.
On July 14, 2020, Mark went into the police station at Manchester Town Hall, and asked to be put into witness protection because he believed his flatmate was trying to kill him.
Officers listened to Mark’s worries, before dropping him off at his parent’s house and referring the incident to their mental health team, who wrote to Mark’s GP.
The next day, Mark arranged to visit Boston, Lincolnshire, where some of his family are currently living.
He told his parents he was going to be staying in a hotel, and was hoping to get work on one of the nearby farms.
However, Mark didn’t stay in Lincolnshire long, heading down to Hertfordshire to see his birth mother - whom he only recently reconnected with around four years ago.
On July 20, he rang his parents from Plymouth, to tell them he was suicidal and wanted to kill himself.
Mr Clayton, who spent around 40 years working as a psychiatric nurse, told his son to call an ambulance, and Mark was admitted to Derriford Hospital as a voluntary mental health patient.
Five days later Mark was transferred to Fairfield General Hospital’s North Ward, in the Irwell Unit, to be closer to home - although his family were unable to visit due to coronavirus restrictions.
After less than a week in the unit, on July 31, Mark told staff he wanted to be discharged, so his wife Joanne, whom Mark had been separated from since 2015, was called.
Mrs Clayton told the court: “From maybe February or March he was paranoid, thinking people were coming after him.
“He was worried that someone was breaking into his room and putting something in his food, and then worried that he thought people were following him - wherever he was it seemed to happen in every location, he would think there were people who were out to get him.
“When he was in hospital he said he felt safe at first and then he said that the doctors and nurses weren’t really doctors and nurses and that there was a conspiracy to hurt him.
“When I got a call saying Mark was going to be discharged I told them that I knew he wasn’t well and wasn’t fit for discharge.”
Despite Mrs Clayton’s concerns, Mark was discharged that evening.
Mr Clayton picked Mark up from the hospital and took him to the Bolholt hotel in Bury, putting his son’s one-night stay on his credit card when he didn’t have enough cash to cover the room.
During that trip, he noticed a mark on his son’s neck, and when Mark took his sunglasses off his eyes were very bloodshot.
Mark told his dad that the mark on his neck had been caused by a suicide attempt made during his hospital stay.
The next day, Mr Clayton tried to access support for his son, calling 101 to ask police to check up on Mark.
When he was unable to get an answer, he called 999, and Mark’s case was passed to North West Ambulance Service, with an appointment made at the Irwell Unit, where Mark had just been discharged from, for August 2.
Mr Clayton said: “The way he was acting when I took him to the hotel was quite concerning.
“He thought people were after him and said he wanted to get away from them.
“I thought he might injure himself or attempt suicide as he’d tried before to take his life.”
On the Saturday afternoon, August 1, Mark phoned home once more to apologise to his parents “for what he put you and his mum through”, before telling his family he was too far away from Bury for them to drop off items with him.
In reality, he had checked into The Victoria Hotel, where he was tragically found dead on August 2 by staff who forced their way into his room after Mark failed to check out that morning.
Today’s hearing finished with Ms Kearsley expressing that she was keen to hear from Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, the team responsible for care at the Irwell Unit, about how staff addressed Mark’s apparent homelessness when he was discharged.
The inquest, which is expected to last three days, continues.
