Patient on the run

Police descended on Saddleworth yesterday to track down a man who had fled the Royal Oldham Hospital.

Concerned hospital staff alerted officers shortly before 7am yesterday, after realising he had left.

Police managed to trace the man to a house on Parkfield Road, Grasscroft, but he refused to co-operate.

Jack Ryder, who lives in Oldham Road, was caught up in the drama.

He said: “We had come to tidy up the new planter in Lydgate when police cars came speeding up the road. Eventually there were six vehicles here with sirens blaring — we didn’t have a clue what was going on.”

The man eventually left the house of his own accord at around 10am. He was then detained under the Mental Health Act.