A FORMER colleague of a pair on trial for allegedly lying to police about the circumstances surrounding a patient’s death told jurors she had heard an alarm sound after he was found.

That contrasted with what nurse Petua Nugent told police about the night Daniel Beswick died. She said she had not heard an alarm – and only learned of the death when a colleague called 999.

Mr Beswick, 31, died in September 2015 at the Chalkdown House brain injury unit in Dorcan after apparently hanging himself after from a bathroom door.

Two former staff members are on trial at Swindon Crown Court for allegedly lying in statements to police about their movements that night. Nurse Samuel Haward and support worker Nthabiseng Bodiba deny perverting the course of justice.

Mr Beswick was on suicide watch, with staff meant to check up on him every 15 minutes. But jurors heard that on the night of September 17 the unit was short staffed.

The trial has already heard from Ms Nugent, who claimed CPR was only started after Haward called 999 – and that her two colleagues spoke to her about sticking to her false account.

Yesterday, former support worker at Chalkdown Annie Anglis told jurors: “I heard Nthabiseng screaming then I heard the buzzer.” The alarm alerted Ms Anglis something was wrong but, as she had been tasked with keeping watch on another patient, she could not go to her colleague’s aid.

The jury heard transcripts of Bodiba and Haward’s police interviews read to the court. Both stuck to their original account: that Bodiba had found Mr Beswick’s body, Haward cut him down and began CPR, was relieved by Ms Nugent then called 999.

Asked why she told a 999 operator CPR had not been done, Bodiba told detectives she thought she had been asked if she had performed chest compressions herself.

Both defendants deny perverting the course of justice. The trial continues.