A police negotiator could not get to a hospital in time to prevent a 20-year-old patient falling to his death it has emerged.

Police arrived just minutes before the mental health patient fell from a huge chimney at Epsom Hospital at 6.20pm on Friday but before the negotiator, who had been called, could get there.

A Surrey Police spokesman said: "Officers requested assistance from the on-duty negotiator in the county, however the man fell and died within minutes of their arrival and before a negotiator could reach the scene.

"A mandatory referral has been made to the Independent Police Complaints Commission following this incident, as is standard practice following a death after contact with police."

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He added: "An investigation will now take place into the circumstances surrounding the death but at this stage it is not believed there was any third party involvement."

Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that the man had been using their services at the hospital.

A spokesman said: "We offer our sincere condolences to his family. We are currently supporting Surrey Police with their enquiries."

Although a spokesman for the trust said this morning that the man is believed to have fallen from a water tower, it was confirmed this afternoon that he fell from the top of a huge boiler chimney on the site.

A Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust spokeswoman said it was currently investigating how the man was able get access to the chimney, which is sealed off.

She said: "It’s not a public area so it is usually not accessible."

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A man, who was visiting a relative at the time of the fall, said: "He climbed all the way to the top and stayed there about five to 10 minutes.

"I didn't see it happen myself but I think there were quite a lot of people who saw it. I think they were trying to coax him down. I know a few of the nurses were crying and upset."

He added: "I'm amazed that someone got access without anyone stopping him. I feel sorry for the family and anyone who witnessed it."

A reader told the Epsom Guardian: "After sitting at the top for about 10 minutes he jumped to his death before anyone could stop him, in view of patients and staff at the hospital."

A South East Coast Ambulance spokesman said they sent two cars with paramedics to the scene but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The foundation trust only treats inpatients on the site and has three mental health wards, with about 30 patients on average, in the Langley wing of Epsom Hospital.

Delius Ward is for acute admissions, Fenby Ward is a psychiatric intensive care unit and Elgar Ward is for general acute inpatients.