Mayday Hospital bosses have defended its staff for sending home a robbed man with a serious head injury who later died.

Mayday Hospital was criticised for sending Saravanakumar Sellappan home after a “cursory” examination, despite him suffering from a fractured skull and brain damage.

Prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee told the Old Bailey Mr Sellappan had to wait 40 minutes to be seen by a doctor after telling staff he had fallen down a full flight of stairs, a lie designed to keep the police from investigating the crime.

The court heard he did not want his family in India to find out about the attack because they would worry for his safety.

Mr Sellappan was examined for just four-and-a-half minutes before being sent home with a child’s leaflet about head injuries, because the hospital had run out of material for adults.

The court heard Mr Sellappan was examined during an “interval of lucidity” and showed no signs of trauma.

Mr Jafferjee said: “He might be forgiven for thinking that for falling down a flight of stairs he would receive the same medical examination. What he did receive was a plainly cursory examination.”

Mr Jafferjee said Mr Sellappan had burst into tears after being given the child’s leaflet, as he realised he was in serious pain and “nothing was being done”.

Mayday Hospital chief executive Nick Hulme said: “I would like to offer my condolences to Mr Sellappan’s family for their loss.

“We have carried out a full investigation into the circumstances of Mr Sellappan’s visit to our accident and emergency unit and I am assured our staff did everything they should, given the symptoms Mr Sellappan presented at the time.

“Sadly, on rare occasions, the signs of a serious head injury are not immediately apparent.”