Ex-heavyweight champion Frank Bruno has begun his second day of treatment at a
psychiatric hospital.

Staff at Goodmayes Hospital in Ilford, where Bruno is being assessed, said they
had
received hundreds of messages from well-wishers.

Police officers and medics escorted the father-of-three from his home near
Brentwood, Essex, on Monday evening.

It is believed the 41-year-old, who told the BBC last month he was being treated
for
depression, was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Eyewitnesses said Bruno had been driven away from his home shortly before 1900
BST, after police and medics had been at his home for some hours.

Friends of Bruno described him as being depressed for some time, following a
series
of personal setbacks including divorce.

Visitors on Tuesday included his former wife, Laura, and their children.

Boxing promoter Frank Warren told BBC Radio Five Live his plea to Bruno to get
medical help had fallen on deaf ears.

Warren said: "This is very sad but hopefully the start of something good for
Frank.

"It was something he needs to address and hopefully he can get the help he
needs, to
get peace of mind and to get better."

Earlier this year Bruno ignored medical advice and applied to have his boxing
licence
reinstated in a bid to regain the heavyweight world title he won in 1995.

Former world champion boxer Barry McGuigan said Bruno's behaviour of late had
been "irrational" and he may have "buckled" under the weight of a number of
recent
personal issues.

As well as his wife leaving him, McGuigan said, he had also lost a very close
friend
when his former trainer George Francis committed suicide last year.

Mental health charity Sane criticised unsympathetic coverage of his illness in
the
media.

An early edition of the Sun had the front page headline "Bonkers Bruno Locked
Up",
which was later changed to "Sad Bruno in Mental Home".

Negative coverage

Sane chief executive Marjorie Wallace said: "It is both an insult to Mr Bruno
and
damaging to the many thousands of people who endure mental illness to label him
as
'bonkers' or 'a nutter' and having to be 'put in a mental home'.

Conservative spokesman on health Dr Liam Fox said such negative coverage could
stop other people coming forward to get the care they need.

He said the reporting reflected prejudice against mental illness throughout
society.

"It will affect one in three of us at some point in our lives and I think that
we have to
have a much more mature, sensitive and understanding approach to mental
illness,"
Dr Fox warned.

"We need to see it, not as a threat to us, but as a personal tragedy to those
involved,"
he added.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/3130376.stm

Published: 2003/09/24 05:17:05 GMT