Man killed himself in plunge from bridge

Jan 22 2009 by Emma Davison, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

AN UNEMPLOYED man jumped to his death on to a busy motorway after struggling to find work, an inquest heard.

Jonathan Swift, 37, died instantly when he plummeted from Brown Cow Bridge on to the M62 motorway on July 15 last year. His body was found underneath the bridge.

The Huddersfield inquest heard that Mr Swift, of Dewsbury, had worked as a technical manager for Batley firm HM Doors but had been made redundant in February.

He had struggled to find work and was in a large amount of debt, which left him feeling depressed.

The inquest heard that father-of-one Mr Swift had gone for a job interview in Leeds the morning that he died but was told that there were no job opportunities available for him.

Hours later, road sweeper John Warley saw him standing on the bridge as he was cleaning Scammonden Road.

He said: “As I turned to go over the bridge I saw a bloke walking about on the bridge, he was walking back and forth and kept looking over the railings at the traffic.

“He then grabbed hold of the railings, pulled himself up and went over. I drove to the entrance end of the bridge and noticed a silver Vauxhall Vectra parked there, which I thought must have been his.”

A post mortem revealed that Mr Swift died from multiple injuries caused by the fall.

His partner Sandra Forsyth said that he had been struggling with depression, which was also due to his recent divorce, and had taken overdoses in the past.

She said that on July 15 he had left their Ellis Court home at 9am for the interview and appeared fine when he left, but later that day police told her that he had been found dead near the bridge.

Tragically, the unemployed sales man had tried to take his own life at the same place just a week before he died, but Miss Forsyth said she had managed to get there in time and stop him.

She said: “The week before I had collected him from the bridge, he was standing on the Huddersfield side of the bridge looking out towards Manchester. He was crying and said: ‘I can’t find a job, I can’t find anything, I’m going mental’. I took him home.”

Recording a verdict that Mr Swift had taken his own life, coroner Roger Whittaker said: “I understand the despondency he felt, which was partly due to his job pressure and partly due to his debts. He had been depressed and taken overdoses before but I put this down as a cry for help. However, the week before he had been at the same scene contemplating I believe what eventually happened.

“His partner saved him but the (unsuccessful) job interview elevated his problems, dreadfully demonstrated by his death.”