A PSYCHIATRIC patient has been moved to a high security ward after he sparked a seven-hour search when he "ran away".

James Carter made it past members of staff at Burnley General Hospital and ran as fast as he could, losing staff chasing him.

Hospital employees followed him down Briercliffe Road but he managed to lose them as he headed towards the town centre.

He was later discovered close to his parents' house in Chorley, when his mother, who saw him coming towards her house, contacted police.

The 32-year-old absconded at 12.30pm yesterday before running down by the canal and flagging down a taxi to his home town, arriving at 7.30pm.

Police spent seven hours searching for the patient, described as "rather poorly" after discovering he was due some medication.

Insp Vicky Haworth, of Burnley Police, said: "Mr Carter got past staff to run away from the hospital because it seems he did not want to be there. This made it harder for us to trace him because it was unlikely he would stay close to the grounds.

"But because he does not know the area it made it difficult to think of a logical route he may have taken.

"We searched the hospital grounds, the local pubs and all streets within the area where he was last seen. We have also checked CCTV footage but failed to find him. We monitored buses and trains.

"Eventually his mum saw him heading along her street and contacted us as she knew he needed to go back to hospital. We had police in the area looking for him and they returned him immediately."