CLOSE friends of a Southampton man found dead in a hospital ward have demanded a public inquiry into the tragedy.

And a national mental health charity has added its weight to the campaign.

The call for answers comes after Alex Dadd, 41, was found unconscious with a plastic bag over his head in the Mayflower secure ward of the Department of Psychiatry at Royal South Hants Hospital, Southampton.

Mr Dadd had earlier barricaded himself in his Whitworth Road, Bitterne Manor, Southampton, home after firing an arrow from a potentially lethal Olympic-standard bow at officers.

Now grieving friends and mental health experts say only a public inquiry will provide them with all the answers needed to Mr Dadd's death.

One former college pal of Mr Dadd's, who did not wish to be named, said: "I think a public inquiry is the only way we will get answers that would otherwise be kept internal."

A spokesman for MIND, the National Association of Mental Health, said: "We are sorry to hear about the death of Mr Dadd and firmly back calls for a full inquiry by local health teams.

"He should have been under maximum observation given the circumstances surrounding his death and the means to enable someone to take their own life should be removed whenever humanly possible.

"People should be made to feel safe from harm in hospital and when they come out after treatment."

A government-backed report entitled Safety First published in March 2001 found that a shocking 40 per cent of psychiatric patient suicides between 1996-2000 occurred during or immediately after treatment.

West Hants Hospital Trust has pledged that it will carry out a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mr Dadd's tragic death.

A spokesman said: "It is hospital policy not to leave objects like plastic bags lying around in secure areas which could be used by a psychiatric patient to inflict harm on themselves.

"We will be specifically looking into this as well as the wider factors surrounding patient safety."