A CORONER called for urgent action to prevent people jumping off bridges after recording a suicide verdict at a Huddersfield inquest.
Roger Whittaker was speaking after finding that Birkenshaw woman Patricia Holdsworth had taken her own life by leaping off the Hunsworth Bridge in Cleckheaton on to the M62.
He said: "Something urgently needs to be done to stop people jumping off motorway bridges, for their own sakes, and for those below.
"I accept that those determined to take their lives may go elsewhere but that's not a valid reason for doing nothing."
The coroner, who has dealt with ten such cases in as many years, added: "There should be some form of fencing which is impossible to climb.
"I'm not impressed with the economic argument against this.
"I hope that some good will come from this tragedy."
Earlier Huddersfield Coroners Court heard how 60-year-old Mrs Holdsworth, who had a long history of depression, was seen leaning over the bridge parapet just after 9pm on March 27 this year.
Nurse Sarah Ward was driving home to Bradford when she saw a figure holding an umbrella and standing on tip toes by the side of the bridge.
PC Philip Jackson told how he later found the umbrella folded and standing upright at the side of the bridge.
Mrs Holdsworth was struck by several vehicles after falling 30 feet on to the motorway below, according to Dr Kevin Birkbeck who performed a post-mortem at Dewsbury and District Hospital.
Four days earlier the retired sales assistant had been taken to Dewsbury police station for a breach of the peace after an argument with her husband.
