Three psychiatric patients who plunged to their deaths from cliffs in Devon could have stockpiled drugs at the mental health unit where they were treated, according to a new report.

Anne Harris, 29, Jamie Hague, 19, and Shaun Sheppard, 17, fell to their deaths from Salcombe cliffs, Sidmouth, on June 12 last year.

Jamie Hague's mother contacted her son's ward at The Cedars in Exeter, Devon, twice in the 48 hours before he went missing because she feared he was suicidal, an external review has found.

'She had had contact with another patient who had informed her that JH had made a suicide pact,' the report says.

All three patients were treated at The Cedars - an inpatient unit run by the Devon Partnership NHS Trust for people with mental health problems.

The report said drugs were sometimes sold through the windows of a ward at the unit.

'We were informed that despite the efforts of staff to keep the unit free from drugs and alcohol, both are available on the ward with drugs on occasion being sold through the windows,' it said.

The report, commissioned by the Devon Partnership NHS Trust, is the result of an external review carried out by Dr Laurence Mynors-Wallis, of Dorset Healthcare NHS Trust, and Professor Hilary McCallion, of South London & Maudsley NHS Trust.

They found that each of the three patients had either stockpiled medication or shown suicidal tendencies while at the unit.

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