A HIGHLY-intelligent man with mental health problems hanged him-self after being arrested by police and then “abandoned” at a hotel by officers, an inquest heard.

The hotel was full and John Raymond Sample, 36, was found dead two days later, the hearing was told.

Now his family have demanded answers after discovering following his death that he had been diagnosed with an acute psychotic disorder, border-ing on schizophrenia.

Medical authorities had refused to discuss his case while he was alive for confidentiality reasons.

Solicitors for Mr Sample’s family are also demanding to know why police did not ensure he had a safe place to stay, or make him a vulnerable missing person when his family reported him missing the next day.

The inquest, opened yesterday by coroner Richard Taylor, heard that the Premier Inn hotel, Queen Victoria Road, Burnley, was full when Mr Sample was dropped off after he had been arrested.

His body was found hanging two days later in a nearby field, in Ridge Avenue, Burnley, on January 29 last year.

Mr Sample had been living with his brother Ralph, in Brunshaw Road, Burnley, at the time of his death. The inquest, at Burnley Crown Court, heard that he had become a “danger to himself” after developing mental health problems.

His father, Brian, said that, after Mr Sample caused a disturbance and was arrested, police should have taken him into custody for his own safety and not let him go.

He said: “John was a danger to himself.

“He should have been taken into custody and not dropped off at a hotel in Burnley.

“He was abandoned.”

He said he was told by a Lancashire officer that any disturbance involving John, at Ralph’s home, was a ‘civil matter’ and he could not be arrested for using threatening behav-iour.

He said his son could have also been detained for breaching his bail condit-ions.

The inquest heard that Mr Sample was highly educated, having obtained a history degree at Nott-ingham University, later a masters degree, and studied anthropology at phD level.

But he had suffered from depression and mental health problems from age 17 and these resurfaced when his marriage to his Japanese wife, Rika, broke up in 2003.

His behaviour became increasingly erratic and he became severely with-drawn.

The inquest, expected to last four days, continues.