A mental health patient has died after being found face down in a pond.

The man was found near The Dene Hospital in Goddards Green, near Burgess Hill.

This provides treatment for men and women with mental illness, personality disorders or mild learning disabilities.

A police spokesman said: “At 5.30pm on Wednesday police were called to the roundabout off the southbound A23 at Hickstead, after a 45-year old man from south London had run off from a taxi that was taking him from London to a nearby hospital as a voluntary patient.

“Police ground units swiftly began an urgent search of the area for the missing man, with the aid of the police helicopter.

“At 6.45pm officers found the man lying face down in a pond at a house in nearby Cuckfield Road, Goddards Green.

“The officers went into the pond and pulled him out. Paramedics worked on him at the scene and took him to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, where, very sadly, he was certified dead a short time later.

“Police are not treating the death as suspicious and the Coroner’s Officer has been informed. The man has not yet been formally identified and a postmortem will be held.

“The taxi driver, and a carer who was also in the taxi, were unhurt.”