Glenn Boocock: Peterborough man's injury 'should have raised alarm' By Phil Shepka

BBC News Published duration 12 March

image copyright Family photo image caption Glenn Boocock's aunt described him as a "very kind, considerate, sensitive guy"

The family of a man who died days after being knocked out during a fight said his "horrendous" head injury should have rung alarm bells with clinicians.

Glenn Boocock, 37, died from a brain injury at his Peterborough home 11 days after a scuffle near a bar in June.

The electrician fell unconscious during the fight and went to both a hospital and walk-in centre prior to his death.

Aunt Kim Bell said: "Somebody down the line should have said 'this man needs to be looked at, he's not right'."

Six men have been sentenced for affray in relation to the fight.

Mrs Bell said her nephew, who has a 10-year-old son, was a "generous, friendly and very very loving, very family-orientated" man.

He and some friends watched a football match between England and the Netherlands at their local pub on 6 June before the group went to the city centre.

In the early hours of the morning a scuffle began near a taxi rank outside the O'Neill's bar, during which Mr Boocock fell to the floor.

image copyright Family picture image caption Glenn Boocock "went to bed on the Monday night and he didn't wake up", his aunt said

He lost consciousness before being taken to hospital by friends, his aunt said.

She said after nearly four hours of waiting Mr Boocock discharged himself to get to a work appointment, but he later went to a walk-in centre and returned to hospital.

Mrs Bell said the hospital applied medical skin glue on his head wound, and he was told his symptoms were linked to concussion.

"He knew there was something wrong... he was finding his normal day-to-day life hard," she added.

But Mrs Bell believes clinicians should have given him a scan "after such a horrendous head injury".

"For somebody to be unconscious for over four-and-a-half minutes, that should have set off alarm bells, and him telling them the symptoms he'd got."

Mr Boocock's post-mortem examination found he died as a result of a traumatic head injury.

image caption Glenn Boocock's family outside Peterborough Crown Court after six men were sentenced for affray

Mrs Bell said she wanted to raise awareness of the effects of head injuries, and added: "I just don't want this to happen to anyone else."

She said: "No matter how much time passes our family will never be the same. We are, and always will be, heartbroken."

A spokeswoman for North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Peterborough City Hospital, said it undertook an internal investigation and that it remains "fully cooperative with any further inquiries taking place".

"It would be inappropriate for us to comment any further at this time but we of course send our condolences to Glenn's family," she added.

Related Topics Peterborough