POLICE have issued a warning to an NHS trust employee who left an abusive voicemail with the mother of Connor Sparrowhawk, calling her a "vindictive cow".

The message was left on Friday, April 29 at the workplace of Dr Sara Ryan, a researcher at Oxford University whose 18-year-old son died under the care of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust in 2013. Since then she and others have campaigned for justice and accountability at the trust.

It was later confirmed that the message had come from a Southern Health employee, who has now received a warning and sent an apology to the family through the police.

Dr Ryan said: "The police came round on Tuesday and told me who it was; it was a member of Southern Health staff.

"We wanted an explanation of why they did it but there's no explanation really."

In the voicemail, the female caller accused Dr Ryan of seeking "some attention" and added: "You are vindictive and you are unpleasant, and you are a nasty cow."

The message was left at 9.30am. At the time, Dr Ryan and husband Richard Huggins had been speaking live on BBC Breakfast.

Dr Ryan added: "This person was so enraged by something in that programme they had made the call.

"They haven't come forward to apologise; the police just came and said 'They've apologised'.

"It's unsatisfactory really but there's not much else to say. It's just another example of a terrible, toxic culture within that trust."

Connor Sparrowhawk, who had autism and a learning difficulty, was on a short stay at the trust's Slade House unit in Headington when he died in July 2013 by drowning in a bath following an epileptic fit. At an inquest last October a jury agreed the death had been contributed to by neglect.

Amanda Smith, associate director of workforce from Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The police have informed us that a member of staff was involved in leaving an inappropriate voicemail message. We are taking this very seriously and are now dealing with this matter through a robust internal process."

The trust would not comment further on whether the caller would keep her job as investigations are still ongoing.

Thames Valley Police spokesman James Williams said: “The offender has been given a Police Information Notice. This is a warning that police can give out at the early stages of an harassment investigation.

“The offender has been warned not to contact the victim ever again by any means.  The offender has indirectly apologised to the victim, via Thames Valley Police.

“The victim has been kept fully up-to-date by the force during our investigation and is supportive of the action taken.”