Rumpus at Bruno hospital

Bruno has been receiving treatment for depression

Police were called to the psychiatric hospital treating former boxing champion Frank Bruno after he reportedly became involved in a row, it has emerged.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said police were called to Goodmayes Hospital in Ilford, Essex, at about 1000 BST on Wednesday, "following a disturbance involving a male patient".

"The matter was resolved. No-one was injured or arrested," he said.

The ex-heavyweight champion was taken to hospital from his Essex home on Monday night. It is believed he had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Several of Thursday's papers report the incident.

It also emerged on Wednesday that Bruno was spotted wandering the streets of Liverpool just 48 hours before he was sectioned.

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 Frank Warren Profile: Frank Bruno Q&A: Mental Health sectioning

Residents in the Walton area of the city were amazed when Bruno started knocking on doors on Saturday, saying he was looking for an old friend.

He then stopped and chatted with a small crowd who gathered to meet the sporting hero, and happily posed for pictures.

Marie Rigby, 36, said: "He seemed absolutely fine, and there were no signs of him being ill, although I suppose we weren't really looking for that.

"He was great fun and happy to chat and have his picture taken."

Family visits

The hospital says it has received hundreds of messages from well-wishers for Bruno, who had already been receiving treatment for depression.

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

His former wife, Laura, and their children, have visited him at the hospital.

Ex-boxers who struggled to cope Freddie Mills, former world light heavyweight champion, found shot dead behind a London nightclub in 1965 Britain's former world middleweight champion Randy Turpin, who beat the great Sugar Ray Robinson, turned to drink and committed suicide in 1966 Joe Louis, who earned $5m as world heavyweight champion in 1940s, suffered tax problems and drug abuse. Died in Las Vegas in 1981 Kirkland Laing, one of Britain's most talented boxers and a former middleweight contender, became drug addict and drunk. Now lives on the streets of Hackney. Boxing rallies round Bruno

Boxing promoter Frank Warren said the news was "sad", but hoped that the ex-boxer could get help and 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 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.

Negative coverage

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".

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 needed.