MENTAL hospital patient Sticky O'Rourke has apologised for

"frightening people" when he escaped from Langdon Hospital in

Dawlish last week.

O'Rourke, 35, who is also known as Terry Powell, told the

Echo that he would never hurt anybody and knew it had been

wrong to flee the secure unit to visit the graves of his loved

ones.

Concerns have been raised about how easy it was to escape

from Langdon after O'Rourke and paranoid schizophrenic Jason

Lord, 23, climbed on to the hospital's roof, scaled a perimeter

fence and walked out of a gate that was being installed as part

of improvements being made to the unit.

The pair escaped from the medium security Butler Clinic on

Tuesday last week and were captured on Wednesday night in

Newlyn in Cornwall.

Now back in the unit, O'Rourke, who also has schizophrenia,

said he had been desperate to visit his son's grave, as he has

done every year since he died.

He also wanted to visit his sister's grave, which he claims

has recently been desecrated.

"I'm so sorry for what I've done. I could have possibly

dealt with it another way. I just felt I was letting my boy and

my sister down," he said.

"I want to apologise to anybody around here if they felt in

fear of me. I'm not an angel and what I did was wrong but I

wouldn't have hurt anybody.

"I planted a tree for my son here at Langdon but it didn't

help and I felt so empty because I wasn't there at his

graveside."

O'Rourke admitted he had never properly grieved for his son,

Taigan who, he says, died in a fire on August 8, 2000.

O'Rourke, who has previous convictions for dealing heroin,

said he had arrived in Langdon in December 2007 after being

caught stealing scrap metal from houses.

He also claims he used to be an intravenous drug user, but

had not had any drugs for eight months and tests had confirmed

he had not taken the chance to shoot up while on the run.

He said: "In coming to Langdon, I started grieving for my

little boy, which I realise I hadn't done. I was also grieving

for my little sister Tazmin who was 24 when she died of a

heroin overdose.

"I wanted to tend my sister's grave as I was told someone

had taken away the dream catchers and fairies decorating it. I

promised her on her death bed that I would look after her in

death as in life."

After escaping from Langdon, O'Rourke said he and Lord

hitched a lift to St Austell, took a train to Truro and walked

six miles before catching a bus to Swanpool, Falmouth, where

they tended Taigan's grave.

O'Rourke and Lord then walked to Newlyn, near Penzance.

He hoped to visit a pit bull terrier, Gentle Bear, which he

claimed he rescued from life as a fighting dog.

"We were yards away from seeing Gentle Bear when a police

car pulled up 100 yards away," he said.

"We could have fled but we didn't. We walked to the police

car, sat down and said we wouldn't be trouble.

"My (foster) sister brought Bear out and gave me a hug. The

police were good with me.

"They put Jason in handcuffs and whipped him off but they

let me stop and tend to the dog briefly.

"I had brought my solicitor's number. I was going to call

him the next day to hand myself in.

"I know it was the wrong thing to do and I know I've set

myself back but in my heart I felt relieved."

Devon Partnership Trust said that security at Langdon was

important and new measures were now in operation.

The trust is investing £200,000 in upgrading security at the

site, which includes improvements to the perimeter fencing.