'I hope that it doesn't ever happen to anyone else' Grieving widow speaks out after husband's hospital window plunge.

Byline: Abby Alford

THE widow of a stroke patient who died after falling out of an unsecured hospital window has spoken for the first time of her heartbreak over his death.

Cecilia Manley told the Echo how she had hoped Jack would return after his treatment.

But just three days after arriving at Cardiff Royal Infirmary for rehabilitation, he fell three floors to his death.

Coroner Mary Hassell has since warned all hospitals their windows should not open more than 10cm, after an inquest into Mr Manley's death heard the window he fell out of was probably open twice that.

The jury ruled that, though his intentions were unclear, it is probable that in his confused state he had been trying to leave the building.

"It needn't have happened," said Mrs Manley, of Roath Court Road, Roath, Cardiff.

"I am devastated by my terrible loss. To have a good man die that way has been heartbreaking.

I hope that it doesn't ever happen to anyone else." Jack, who was 86 when he died in October, met Cecilia, now 62, 25 years ago at a dance in Cardiff. Both shared a love of ballroom dancing and holidays and they married in 1989.

"Jack was a very loving husband to me for 19 years. He was dearly loved by me and by my family," said Mrs Manley. "I will always treasure the memories of all the wonderful holidays by the sea and all the happy times we shared together." It was not long after they returned from a break in Weymouth that Mrs Manley found her disorientated husband, a retired steelworker, in their garage at 3am on Sunday, September 28. Having got up and dressed, he locked himself in and the door was too heavy for her to lift to get him out.

"I rang 999 and said my husband had done something out of character," said Mrs Manley, who said she could not have coped since her husband's death without the support of her family and friends. "Up until that point he had been talking to me and then he fell quiet. I rang 999 again and the paramedics came quickly and found him collapsed on the floor." Doctors at the University Hospital of Wales diagnosed a massive stroke and told Mrs Manley he had probably experienced a series of mini strokes.

Mr Manley, who had two grown-up daughters called Catherine and Jacqueline, lost the power of speech and was transferred on October 8.

On the morning of the day he died, Mrs Manley went to see her husband and her spirits were lifted when he took her hand and gave her a big hug.

"I think he knew me. He was very loving towards me," she said. "I had only been home for around three quarters of an hour when they rang to say there had been an incident and that I should come down." Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust has now made the 10cm recommendation mandatory..

CAPTION(S):

Cecilia Manley, from Roath, Cardiff, lost her husband Jack when he fell from a third-floor window at Cardiff Royal Infirmary PICTURE: Mark Fraser [umlaut]