A 72-year-old man died after jumping headway from the second floor of the University Hospital of the West Indies yesterday afternoon.

The dead man has been identified as Clifton Hardware of a Portmore, St Catherine address.

THE STAR was told that about 2:30 p.m., the elderly man walked on to the balcony of ward eight, where he had been admitted and simply jumped off. He was pronounced dead at 3:20 p.m.. Efforts by a nurse to restrain him, were futile.

The Papine police, who are conducting investigations, would not reveal Hardware's illness or how long he had been admitted in hospital.

THE STAR was however told by a hospital source that the man had been exhibiting strange behaviour in the days leading up to the shocking event. Reports are that on Tuesday, Hardware tore off the uniform of a nurse that was attending to him. He also reportedly pushed down two others.