A PASSER-BY desperately tried to save a man who drowned himself in a river, an inquest heard.
Anthony Robinson, 29, of Westgate in Dewsbury, was seen in the Calder near Ravensthorpe at 4.15pm last November 4.
The Huddersfield hearing was told that David Proctor was on the riverbank on his way home from work.
As he neared the Calder Bridge he saw a pool of blood on the riverbank and heard moaning from the water.
He saw Mr Robinson in the river near the opposite bank, waving his arms.
Mr Proctor ran over the bridge and down the opposite riverbank.
He found Mr Robinson floating face-down, six feet from the bank.
Mr Proctor was not a strong enough swimmer to jump in and save Mr Robinson, so he called to him.
He said Mr Robinson looked up blankly, then started pushing himself further away from the bank.
"I couldn't reach him. I shouted for him to come back, but he took no notice. He started to pull himself under," said Mr Proctor.
He ran to a goods yard to get help and spoke to his girlfriend on his phone, asking her to call 999.
Mr Proctor and a worker from the yard returned to help Mr Robinson.
But he had moved and they could not find him.
Fire, police and ambulance workers arrived and later found Mr Robinson dead in the water, further down the river.
He had cut himself deeply on the insides of both arms with a metal tin lid.
But a post-mortem showed he died from drowning.
Mr Robinson had last been seen by his girlfriend at 3pm that day, when he left the house.
He was agitated and restless and said ``everything was going wrong". He said he was coming back.
Mr Robinson had tried to take his life several years ago by cutting his throat. He said he had heard voices telling him to kill himself.
Last August he had been diagnosed with psychiatric illness.
It was thought this could have been caused by previous drug use.
He still regularly used amphetamines.
Coroner Roger Whittaker recorded a verdict that Mr Robinson took his own life.
