A police investigation is under way into allegations of sexual abuse of patients at a Northern Ireland hospital.
The Muckamore Abbey Hospital in Co Antrim, which is a regional centre for people with learning disabilities and mental illness, was the focus of the investigation, covering a period from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Allegations of sexual abuse are understood to have been made by a former patient, who claimed he suffered abuse by an older patient when he was a teenager at the hospital in the 1970s.
The investigation was started when the PSNI was contacted by the North and West Belfast Trust and Eastern Health and Social Services Board.
The PSNI was brought in by the health authorities when they began their own inquiry after a past patient launched legal action against them, claiming he suffered physical, sexual and psychological abuse at the hospital more than 30 years ago.
It is understood that an examination of his hospital notes found references to complaints of sexual incidents involving an older patient and also incidents involving other patients, both minors and adults.
PA