A family have won a long fight to bring home an autistic man held in a secure hospital for 21 years.
Tony Hickmott, 45, has been told he can finally go home after being sectioned in 2001 when he had a mental health crisis.
The hospital he's been held at is designed for short term stays, but despite a battle to release him earlier and secure a suitable home near his family, he has been there for over two decades.
"He's coming home, I can't believe it," his mum Pam, 78, told BBC News, who reported the case. "It will be a real home. We'll get him home and every day will be a bonus."
A judge criticised the detention last year and told authorities to secure him somewhere to live and a relevant care package near close to his parents in Brighton.
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BBC NEWS)A whistleblower who worked at the Assessment and Treatment Unit (ATU) where Mr Hickmott is being held told the BBC last year that Mr Hickmott was the loneliest man in the hospital.
He has to speak to staff through a hatch, which has lost some of its paint from the amount of times he has to knock or bang on it.
A photo taken on his birthday shows a TV inside a Perspex box, with his cards lined up on top. If he wants to change the chanel his has to ask the carers to do it for him.
This year, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said the hospital - which the BBC has not named to protect Mr Hickmott's care and wellbeing - was failing to meet patients' needs.
The damning report spoke of staff shortages, a lack of training and an increase in restrictive interventions. It highlighted how relatives of patients said their loved ones were heavily medicated and had few meaningful activities to enjoy. New admissions were halted because of the potential risk of harm patients would be subject to.
In 2013, psychiatrists agreed Mr Hickmott was 'fit for discharge' but authorities failed to create a care package with the support he needs in Brighton, where his parents are based.
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BBC NEWS)In December 2021, Pam and Mr Hickmott's father, Roy, 82 - who live two hours from the hospital - took the case to the Court of Protection.
There, a senior judge ordered the NHS and Brighton & Hove City Council to find Mr Hickmott a home as quickly as possible and stick to the timetable. The judge slammed the "egregious" delays and "glacial" progress.
Delighted to hear their son is finally coming home Pam said: "I can't wait for him to make us a cup of tea."
While Roy added: "He wants to go to the pub with me. I'll have a pint and he'll have a half and he says he'll have a cheese roll. That's what he wants, a cheese roll. I can't wait. It'll be heaven."
Brighton & Hove Council's executive director for health and adult social care admitted to the BBC that there had been unacceptable delays in Mr Hickmott's case, but added that it was a costly and complicated process. He said the cases like this are made particularly difficult by continuous cuts to local government funding.
