A MAN had been researching suicide on YouTube before he jumped from a multi-story car park in Accrington, an inquest heard.

Nigel Hague, of Walmsley Avenue, Rishton, had been finding it difficult to cope with "work stress" and drove to the sixth floor of the Arndale Centre on 17 August where he plunged to his death.

The inquest at Blackburn Coroner's Court heard how his wife Susan Hague had given the 51-year-old self-help books from the library because he was "getting little things out of proportion".

Just hours before his death, Mr Hague, a regional manager for Ford, told his wife he was looking forward to a holiday they had booked to the Lake District.

Investigations later found a laptop found in his car containing signs he was visiting suicide sites online, in particular YouTube. Coroner Michael Singleton, said Mr Hague suffered multiple internal injuries, and ruled his death as suicide.

A delivery driver, Colin Barnes, told the court how he witnessed Mr Hague's body fall to the ground from just 25 yards away in Union Road.

Mr Barnes said he heard "a very very large noise like a hand hitting a swimming pool" and then saw Mr Hague's body "collapsing onto the floor."

He went into the shopping centre immediately after the incident which happened at 11.10am, to get help from three members of staff.

He said: "There was nothing we could do, nothing at all."

Paramedics announced Mr Hague dead at the scene. Police who found keys in Mr Hague's pocket were able to trace his Ford Mondeo, parked on the sixth floor of the shopping centre in Union Road.

The Coroner concluded that the top floor -where the wall is waist high and is not secured by railings – is where Mr Hague plunged to his death.

In response Mr Hague's mother Jean Hague said: "Why weren't there any railings to stop people being able to do this?"

Mr Hague's wife Susan said: "The last two weeks of his life, he seemed to not to be able to deal with work.

"I became to feel he wasn't happy. From what I've heard since, he was putting himself under pressure – he was getting little things out of proportion."

The Coroner said: "There is nothing to suggest this was any kind of accident, it would have taken a deliberate act to climb over the wall, and the analysis of his lap top shows he was accessing sites relating to suicide, so the only conclusion I am able to deliver is he intended to bring about his own demise.

"Nigel Hague jumped from the top floor of the multi-story car park at the Arndale Centre on Union Street, Accrington. He fell to the ground below where he died instantly.

"Nigel Ian Hague killed himself."

Speaking to Mr Hague's family, he added: "As to why it happened, I'm not able to assist.

"We are all capable of going to some very dark places and sometimes people act on these dark thoughts.

"Other people survive the course of the moment and feel no need to return there.

"That I'm not able to answer the question I know is one that will haunt you for a long time.

"Mr Barnes was going about his daily delivery and this is something which will be etched on his mind for the rest of his life.

"There are many victims here."

VERDICT: He killed himself