A woman whose son was a patient at a former mental hospital is appealing for information about a trust fund set up for former residents and which she believes may run into millions of pounds.

Irayne Vamplew’s son Andrew, 43, who has autism and challenging behaviour, was one of the patients at Leybourne Grange when it was a psychiatric hospital, before it closed in the 1980s.

Mrs Vamplew says she was told when the property was sold that a trust fund was set up for the benefit of residents in the future, although has no written proof of its existence.

After the hospital, which catered for all aspects of learning disabilities, closed, Mrs Vamplew’s son was transfered to a residential home in Gillingham, and later Sittingbourne, before she bought a small house for him to live in near her home in Hastings.

“All we were told as parents was there has been a trust fund set up, which would be used for the rest of their lives. I cannot understand why there is no record of it any more. There should be a fair amount in there.”

Mrs Vamplew said that she believed there were about 700 residents at the time the hospital closed.

Kent County Council, West Kent Primary Care Trust and the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership NHS Trust all said there were no records of any such trust being set up.

Do you remember the trust or can you help Mrs Vamplew? Contact the Kent Messenger on 01622 695666 or Mrs Vamplew on 01424 444722.