A FAULTY alarm system allowed a mental patient to escape and attack a toddler, an investigation has concluded.

The patient, who escaped in September from the privately-owned Hollyhurst home on Woodland Road, Darlington, assaulted three-year-old Arron Varley as he played with his older brother outside the family home.

Industry watchdog the National Care Standards Commission (NCSC) recently completed an investigation into the incident, which concluded it was due to a fault in the alarm system at the semi-secure unit.

Arron's family, who say he was left severely traumatised by the incident, say they have not been informed of the outcome of any investigation.

His father, Barry Athey, said: "Arron has nightmares all the time and even though we have moved house since the incident, he is absolutely terrified of strangers.

"It has traumatised him. He is a completely different child now."

The unnamed patient threw the toddler against a wall, before he was wrestled to the ground by Mr Athey.

He added that his solicitors were examining the possibility of taking legal action against Castlebeck Care Limited, which owns the home.

An NCSC spokesman said that staff at Hollyhurst had also carried out an internal investigation into its security system.

He said: "The alarm system on the doors was found to be faulty. The care home took action quite quickly to rectify the problem and as far as our inspectors are concerned it is fine now."

James Clephane, operations director of Hollyhurst, said: "We did find a fault in the alarm with one of the exit doors - the door the patient got out from.

"It was rectified that day and is working very well now. Obviously you can never 100 per cent guarantee that it isn't going to happen again.

"If I could find an alarm system which worked perfectly all the time, I would pay good money for it."