A GOVERNOR of a controversial Hampshire health trust said during a board meeting that a teenager who drowned in a bath under their care "got into hot water".

Audio recordings have just surfaced of the Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust meeting, which took place on Tuesday, March 29 this year in its headquarters in Tatchbury Mount, Calmore.

It was held a full six months after an inquest into the death of Connor Sparrowhawk, who had autism, epilepsy and a learning difficulty, at the trust's Slade House unit in Headington, Oxfordshire, in July 2013.

The trust - which runs a series of mental health services across the South, including Melbury Lodge in Winchester - has been condemned by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after failing to protect patients and investigate the deaths of hundreds of people in its care following a scathing independent report.

And recently it was branded a "shambles" after rebel governors held a breakaway meeting in a bid to demand improvements, leading to calls for Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to intervene.

Chief executive Katrina Percy has refused repeated calls to stand down.

In the final two minutes of the March board meeting, published by Southern Health on Soundcloud.com, governor John Beaumont raises questions to do with press coverage that month.

He goes on to refer to Connor, from Oxford, as "Sparrowhawk", saying: "I thought it was somewhat confusing because there were two people, who apparently got themselves into, shall we say, hot water. They went bathing.

"One of them was Sparrowhawk, where apparently the inquest has now said there was a lack of care, or neglect."

Connor's mother Dr Sara Ryan said that the choice of words was "bloody outrageous".

The Oxford University researcher and long-time campaigner added: "I am just sick of being angry with them. They show contempt after contempt.

"I wrote a long letter to the council of governors that was supposed to go to all the governors. It's shocking that at the end of March he has asked what's happened and is being so disrespectful.

"If I had been in that meeting and I wasn't Connor's mum I would have said something."

Former governor Mark Aspinall, who quit his post in April, has also called the tone "ill-mannered, rude and condescending".

A statement issued by Southern Health said: “We apologise unreservedly for the regrettable use of language and wish to be clear that no offence was intended by the governor.”

Spokeswoman Kirsten Mordant confirmed that the governor in question was John Beaumont.

She said that Mr Beaumont had only joined the board "quite recently" - after Connor's inquest had concluded - and had therefore not been privy to the content of Sara Ryan's letter.