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A former hedge fund boss is considering legal action after being “wrongly sectioned” in a maximum-security psychiatric ward.

Aaron Dover, 39, claims he was detained against his will for 10 days, physically restrained and forcibly injected with sedatives at Highgate Mental Health Centre.

Mr Dover, of Hampstead, was held after his wife became concerned for his well-being and called the NHS 111 out-of-hours number. Authorities feared he might be suicidal and the Metropolitan Police launched a helicopter search. He was having a coffee nearby.

He admitted being under pressure due to an employment dispute and said he had at times suffered from depression, but claimed the response was completely over the top: “I was brought into hospital by a manhunt of more than 10 police cars, police with dogs trawling Hampstead Heath, and a police helicopter, while I was out quietly having a coffee on Flask Walk.

“I was hunted down like a nuclear suicide bomber rather than someone out for Sunday breakfast.

“I was held against my will with patients who were terrifying. Some of them were quite aggressive and there were frequent fights. It’s basically the Hannibal Lecter ward of Highgate.

“I wanted to leave every second of every minute. I never wanted to set foot in that place and the whole thing was just an atrociously awful nightmare.”

After being detained last September, the IT consultant was taken to Highgate Mental Health Centre, where doctors suspected he had a delusional disorder. He was later sectioned.

He admits he was under intense stress but believes his sectioning was based on hearsay and not enough was done to verify his account of events.

On October 2, following a five-hour hearing, a tribunal found that it was “not satisfied that he was suffering from a mental disorder”. Mr Dover was freed immediately with no further treatment required.

He is considering legal action against Camden and Islington NHS foundation trust over unlawful detention, medical negligence and personal injury. Solicitor José Grayson of D H Law, who represented Mr Dover at the tribunal, said: “The hospital had simply failed to properly investigate what Aaron was saying. It is now some months since his discharge. If they were right about the fact that he had a serious psychotic illness then he would be back in hospital.”

A spokesman for Highgate Mental Health Centre, which is run by Camden and Islington Trust, said: “The tribunal makes a decision on whether further detention is warranted based on the assessment to date, and their own interviews.

“The decision that no further detention is needed does not make the original detention for assessment wrong or illegal.”