A HEALTH watchdog today called for a public inquiry into the death of teenager Christopher Saunders at Calderstones Hospital - unless the hospital's bosses release the full report of its internal investigation.

Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Community Health Council chairman Frank Clifford said it was only a "partial victory" that the trust had agreed to publish the 22 recommendations of its report.

Christopher, 18, who had been transferred 300 miles from an Exeter jail, was found hanging by his belt in a shower cubicle last November.

The trust initially refused to publish its recommendations, but bowed to pressure. Now Mr Clifford wants it to go a step further and publish the whole report. In a letter to Calderstones NHS Trust chief executive Russ Pearce, Mr Clifford says that as chairman of a statutory body, representing patients and the interests of the community, he feels strongly that the trust has an obligation both to the family and the wider community to publish the full report.

He says the public interest outweighs other factors and has issued a formal complaint under the NHS Code of Openness requiring information to be released.

He says: "If you are still unable to release the information, giving reasons for your decision, I shall have no option but to request a public inquiry into the circumstances of Christopher's death, which will make the trust publicly accountable for its actions."

The trust has maintained that it was it was complying with the wishes of Christopher's mother, Rose Saunders, who lives in Plymouth, by not releasing the report to the public.

At the inquest earlier this year, Mrs Saunders blamed a "catalogue of errors" that led to him being transferred 300 to Calderstones.

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