A YOUNG man with epilepsy living in a care home died after being left alone to take a bath while staff were in the pub or having a cigarette break, an inquest heard.

Geoffrey Gardner, 24, was found slumped down with his head under water at the The Willows Care Home in Warminster on June 6 last year, after apparently suffering an epileptic seizure while alone in a locked bathroom.

An inquest into his death began at Kings Weston House, Bristol, on Wednesday. The jury heard staff did not have a key to get into the bathroom and had left Mr Gardner alone for up to 20 minutes, despite the fact he suffered from severe fits.

On the evening he died four members of staff were on duty looking after eight residents, under the supervision of team leader Simon Jones. Mr Jones told the court he had run a bath for Mr Gardner and left him alone while he helped one man ready himself for visitors and then sorted out some money for two staff members to take a group of residents to the pub.

Mr Jones then went for a cigarette break before going to check on Mr Gardner but got no answer when he knocked on the bathroom door. He and Kathleen Scane, the only other staff member left on site, then forced open the locked door and found Mr Gardner slumped over the bath.

Mr Jones said: "His hair was fanned out and he was quite still. His whole face was in the bath."

He said he then ran to call emergency services while Mrs Scane tried to resuscitate Mr Gardner.

The young man was airlifted to the Royal United Hospital (RUH) in Bath by air ambulance but was pronounced dead later that night.

Care home manager Karen Wilkinson, who was off sick on the day of the tragedy, told the inquest the home had recently put into place a risk assessment plan for Mr Gardner, which stated a member of staff should always be outside the bathroom door talking to Mr Gardner when he was bathing.

Team leader Richard Hitchen told the jury he had made a note of this new risk assessment in the home's communications book, which should have been read by all staff, along with instructions to read the assessment in Mr Gardner's file.

The inquest heard staff had also undergone training in which Mr Gardner's risk assessment was discussed, a discussion Mr Jones said did not happen in that training session.

Mr Jones and Mrs Scane both denied they had been made aware of the instruction to remain at the bathroom door and the inquest heard the communications book in which it was recorded has since disappeared.

Both Mr Jones and Mrs Scane, neither of whom still work at The Willows, and Mrs Wilkinson told the court it was usual for Mr Gardner to lock the door and bathe alone.

Mrs Wilkinson said: "He always locked the door. He was a young man and he insisted on doing it for his own privacy."

She added that since Mr Gardner's death, staff have been provided with keys so they can gain access quickly in an emergency.

Mr Jones told the inquest he believed Mr Gardner, who was taking various medications including anti-psychotic drugs and drugs to control his epilepsy, was taking the medication three times a day but records provided in court showed the last medication he took was at 10pm the previous day.

And yesterday, consultant pathologist Dr Simon Rose claimed from the records he had seen, it appeared Mr Gardner had only been taking the drugs once a day.

While neuro pathologist Dr Tim Moth, who examined the victim's brain, said that Mr Gardner had probably died from drowning, Dr Rose argued that the cause of death was more probably a result of his epilepsy.

Mr Gardner, who also had learning disabilities and behavioural problems, had lived at the Boreham Road home, which is owned by private firm Exalon Care Homes Ltd, since 2002.

The inquest continues.