A FORMER CIA man died at Manchester Royal Infirmary after the alarm on his heart monitor was mysteriously turned down.

American Alan Bel - who had lived in Salford for 30 years after finishing working for the secretive agency - may well have been saved if staff had been alerted that he was having a heart attack.

Consultant cardiologist Dr Bernard Clarke told a Manchester inquest that `on the balance of probabilities', Mr Bel, a retired businessman and pastor, would have survived.

A hospital investigation wasn't able to establish who turned the alarm's volume control down, or when. Bosses have now employed four extra nurses to monitor patients - at a cost of £120,000 a year.

Manchester coroner Nigel Meadows has used new powers to write to the hospital and Hertforshire-based Spacelabs Medical, who make the machine, calling for a more thorough investigation, a review of all monitoring machines at the MRI; and for machine maintenance to be properly recorded.

Mr Bel, originally from Texas, where he worked for the CIA, had a history of heart problems. He had a pacemaker fitted in 2000, but it had to be removed last year and he was hooked up to the monitor.

Mr Bel died of a heart attack last November, half an hour after he was seen alive by nurses.

Investigations revealed the volume on the alarm, which would have alerted staff, had been turned down - and they had not realised this.

Mr Bel's daughter nurse Carolyn Birtwistle, from Swinton, has employed Manchester-based Pannone LLP to bring a legal case against the hospital to try to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else.

Coroner Mr Meadows recorded a narrative verdict at an inquest on October 13

Mr Bel worked in the CIA until he married, before moving to Salford and setting up his own security business. He and his wife Diane had five children and nine grandchildren.

Emma Holt, head of clinical negligence at Pannone, said: "This is a tragic case where a life has been lost through carelessness. I can confirm we are pursuing action against the trust concerned."