A GRIEVING family has called for the return of a mobile phone containing treasured photos of a loved one who died suddenly.

George Henry says his mum’s mobile went missing during a recent stay at Inverclyde Royal Hospital – and he fears cherished images of his late brother Stephen may be lost forever.

We told yesterday how the family may never find out the cause of postman Stephen’s death after an inconclusive post mortem.

He was just 44 when he died outside the home he shared with his parents in Mid Avenue, Port Glasgow, in July.

The tragedy hit the family hard and his devastated mother was taken to IRH recently suffering poor health, thought to be triggered by her son’s death.

George believes her white Samsung Galaxy 5 went missing while she was being transferred between wards.

He said: “We’re not so worried about the phone, but there are photos of my brother on it that we never got developed.

“We just want the sim and the memory card back.

“I was back home at Christmas and mum was taking lots of photos on the phone. Now it’s all gone.” Stephen worked as a postman for 24 years and became ill on 25 July.

That day he went to Inverclyde Royal Hospital but decided to return to work when he saw that there was a four-hour wait in casualty.

A colleague later decided to take him home after being concerned for his health.

Stephen collapsed on a bench outside his address and died shortly after.

He is survived by George, parents George Snr and Ellen and sisters Lyndsay and Caroline as well as nephews and nieces.

George, who stays in Ireland, believes the hospital has not done enough to help the family find the phone.

He said: “There are notices up in the building about looking after property so the hospital is not accepting liability.

“But if someone’s on medication they are constantly sleeping.” A spokesperson for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “We advise patients on their admission into hospital to hand any valuables to staff who can store them in a safe and secure area.

“We are aware that most patients prefer to keep items such as mobile phones with them and as such they have responsibility for their safe-keeping. In addition to searching the ward area when we were notified that this phone was missing we logged it in our internal systems as missing. We also offered to involve the police, however this was declined.”