MYSTERY today surrounded the amazing journey of a pensioner who went missing from Ipswich Hospital – and ended up more than 400 miles away.Charles Garwood decided he would leave his ward, dressed, gathered his stick and possessions in his red and navy bag, put on his dark green coat, and slipped past nurses and out of the hospital.

MYSTERY today surrounded the amazing journey of a pensioner who went missing from Ipswich Hospital – and ended up more than 400 miles away.

Charles Garwood decided he would leave his ward, dressed, gathered his stick and possessions in his red and navy bag, put on his dark green coat, and slipped past nurses and out of the hospital.

Within hours it is believed he had left Suffolk, and 48 hours later was in one of his favourite places – Dublin in Ireland.

But Mr Garwood – a well-known character around Suffolk and known to many as "Charlie Chutney" – has refused to discuss how he made his eventful and quick journey away from hospital to the land of Guinness.

The Irish police, the Garda, found the 77-year-old sitting in a café, looking unwell.

He told them he had come from Ipswich and officers contacted Suffolk police to let them know he was safe and so they could call off their search.

It is not the first time Mr Garwood, who usually lives in the Bury St Edmunds area but earlier this week stayed the night at a temporary address in Granville Road, Felixstowe, has gone missing and turned up in Ireland.

It is believed he caught a ferry across the Irish Sea from either Holyhead or Liverpool, and possibly caught a train or hitchhiked from Suffolk, where he left the hospital at about midday on Tuesday.

Mr Garwood is a familiar sight in Bury St Edmunds, where he walks around the town centre waving a stick and shouting.

He has no family and is described as "a bit of a character, a complete loner".

A Suffolk police spokeswoman said: "He was found in Dublin and is absolutely fine, safe and well.

"We have informed the hospital. He has told the Garda that he is going to stay in Ireland for the time being. He is not a danger to himself or anyone else and has not done anything wrong."

Mr Garwood had been receiving treatment on Kesgrave ward when he decided to leave the hospital.

Police and staff were concerned for him and said he was "in a confused state".

Hospital staff scoured the hospital grounds and buildings, while Suffolk police brought in the helicopter to look at a wider area.