A Walton man was suffering from acute alcohol withdrawal and had gone missing from St Peter’s Hospital before he was found dead on a dual carriageway in Chertsey, a coroner has been told.

James Phelan, 42, disappeared from the hospital’s accident and emergency department on August 8, 2014.

Surrey Police believed that was the last time anyone saw him alive, according to a missing person appeal from the time.

His body was discovered a week later in St Peter’s Way, the dual carriageway leading from the hospital to the M25, a pre-inquest review at Woking Coroner’s Court heard on Monday, May 24.

Surrey Police had appealed for help finding Mr Phelan the day after he disappeared, when officers became increasingly concerned for his welfare.

Rachel Marcus, representing Mr Phelan’s partner and sister, said he had been suffering with acute alcohol withdrawal, and that his family “still have questions” about alleged later sightings of him in St Peter’s Way as well as “how that information was treated”.

She added: “We don’t know where that information came in. The family were told that information had been discredited. Of course, that is the location where James was found.

“It would be interesting to hear how the risk assessment influences the conduct of the search and what efforts are made, and how someone is allocated a medium risk as opposed to when someone is given a high risk.”

A full inquest at Woking Coroner’s Court will hear evidence from Surrey Police, South East Coast Ambulance Service, St Peter’s Hospital NHS Trust, and Dr Sarah Styles, a general practitioner, who assessed Mr Phelan before he was admitted to hospital.

The hearings are scheduled for between September 19 and 22.