THE parents of a mentally-ill man heard how he plunged to his death from York's Nestl factory on the very day his care was due to be reviewed.

An inquest in York was told that Stephen John Wright had been living in less restricted conditions at a hospital in Shipton Road, York, at the time of the tragedy, on February 13 this year.

York Coroners' Court heard that the medical team treating Mr Wright had been on the verge of returning him to the more secure conditions at Clifton House, also known as "Riverfields," on the old Clifton Hospital site.

Deputy York Coroner Jonathan Leach recorded an open verdict on Mr Wright. He raised no concerns about his care.

But the dead man's devastated family today said they believed he might still be alive if he had continued to be treated at Clifton House, where he had once lived.

A spokesman for the Selby and York Primary Care Trust, which was responsible for Mr Wright's case, today offered its sympathies to the Wright family and invited them for discussions over the death.

He said the reasons for Mr Wright's treatment were explained at the inquest.

Mr Wright's mother, Doreen, of Strensall, said: "He was happy there and never wanted to leave in the first place."

Forensic psychiatrist James Isherwood, who treated Stephen over an extended period, told the inquest how close Mr Wright had come to being moved back to Clifton House on the day of his death.

He said: "By the morning of February 13, he had disappeared again. It was felt maybe one or two days back at Riverfields would help restore the equilibrium."

But shortly after noon on the 13th, Nestl engineer Malcolm Allan found Mr Wright at the bottom of the Aero building fire escape with multiple injuries.

He later died in York Hospital.

It is not known how far Mr Wright had fallen from the fire escape. The building, in Haxby Road, is several storeys high.

Mr Wright was not a Nestl employee.

Mr Leach said he had taken into account the fact that, despite Stephen's mental health problems, he had no history of harming himself.

Dr Isherwood had told the inquest Mr Wright was moved to Shipton Road after making good progress at Clifton House.

Mrs Wright, of Pasture Close, said the move unsettled her son.

"We feel that at Shipton Road he was not receiving the care and support required for a young man whose psychological symptoms were evidently returning," she said.

Other reasons Dr Isherwood gave yesterday's inquest for moving Mr Wright to Shipton Road were that he no longer presented a danger to people.

He had once gone through a period of following women around "inappropriately," the inquest heard.

Dr Isherwood added: "It is always right to endeavour to treat people in the best necessary level of security. In the longer term, it is appropriate for clinical teams to consider how patients, if they do not require hospital treatment, might be managed safely in the community."

Updated: 11:12 Friday, August 01, 2003