A VULNERABLE pensioner was discharged from hospital hours after being savagely attacked because a doctor failed to notice he had serious and fatal injuries.

An inquest into the death of Alan Bailey has revealed Dr Peter Tzakas, a junior doctor at Northwick Park Hospital, attended to the 66-year-old in the hours after he was beaten-up, but did not spot the injuries which would later kill him.

Mr Bailey was found slumped in Lewgars Avenue, Kingsbury, at around 5am on November 27, 2007, having been attacked at the back of Pizza Hut in Kingsbury Road.

Despite telling a paramedic and a nurse at the hospital that his arm hurt, Dr Tzakas did not perform an X-ray and discharged Mr Bailey noting “I could find no injuries to the limbs”.

In fact, the retired lift engineer was sent back to his home in Boycroft Avenue, Kingsbury, with two broken arms bones and five fractured ribs. He died not long after he was discharged from hospital.

Medical expert Dr John Payne-James, who testified at yesterday's inquest, commented on Dr Tsakas' actions on that day, saying: “I am puzzled and remain puzzled with regard to the rib fractures – it's exquisitely painful even with one rib fracture.

“I'm at a loss why Mr Bailey didn't exhibit more signs of pain at that time.

“If the doctor didn't examine him and reported that he did, I believe that's a serious failure. If he examined him properly but missed these fractures, I would be extremely concerned about his competence.”

Mr Bailey, a reclusive figure who rarely ventured out of his home except to scavenge for food at the back of restaurants in the early hours of the morning, was found dead on March 3, 2008 – more than three months after he was attacked.

Doctors, a paramedic, and the woman who found him after the attack noticed he was malnourished, dehydrated, and in poor health.

He was found clutching a soggy bag of garlic bread which he had taken from the Pizza Hut bins, and he told the paramedic he did not collect his pension because “he couldn't be bothered”.

But despite his obvious poor health, Mr Bailey was sent home from hospital in a taxi with little more than a plaster on his head and was never seen alive again.

The Harrow Times revealed in July 2008 that a Brent Police inspector had been disciplined for not logging the incident as a crime, acting on the advice of doctors who believed he had injuries consistent with a fall.

As a result, police officers never visited him at his home - standard procedure with an allegation of assault – and his body was not found earlier.

Further probing by this paper revealed the hospital conducted its own internal investigation over the death of Mr Bailey, but neither Dr Tzakas or any other members of staff faced disciplinary action.

Detective Inspector Lee Presland, who led the murder investigation, told coroner Andrew Walker his inquiries had been “hampered” because of the delay between the attack and the discovery of Mr Bailey's body.

Vital clues, forensic evidence, and CCTV footage were undoubtedly lost in the three months when Mr Bailey lay dead in his home, and his killers remain on the loose to this day.

The inquest has been adjourned for three weeks to give Dr Tzakas, who is believed to have moved back to his native Canada in July 2008, a chance to respond to the criticisms aimed at him during the inquest.