SHOCKED witnesses described how they saw a woman take her own life by jumping from the top of an IKEA multi-storey car park.

Workers at Carnival UK in Southampton told an inquest how they saw Anne-Marie Ramsden behaving strangely, but as they phoned police for help described how she plunged off the top of the four storey building.

An inquest at Winchester Coroner's Court heard how 38-year-old Ms Ramsden, of Winchester Road, Fair Oak, had a history of drug abuse, was in debt, and feared she would lose her job.

Police also found notes to her partner and family.

As previously reported she died from multiple injuries after falling from the car park in West Quay Road at around 1.20pm on December 7 last year.

Christopher Lovick, a management consultant, was working on the fourth floor of Carnival UK 40 metres away at the time.

"I saw out of the corner of my eye a female walking close to the barrier in the car park," he said in a statement.

"She walked up and down a few times.

"My gut instinct was she didn't look right.

"I said 'look do you think she's going to be a jumper?'.

"She continued to look over the edge of the car park - she was on the top floor looking down."

As they called police she stepped over the barrier and stood on the edge, the inquest heard.

He added: "I couldn't believe what I saw. I looked away.

"We didn't try to intervene by shouting or banging on the glass, it happened so quick."

The inquest heard how Ms Ramsden had been working as a sales representative at Amari Plastics in Segensworth since May last year, but had told partner of two years Edward Chilvers that she feared she was going to lose her job.

In a statement he told how she was taking heroin daily for the last three months of her life to function and a few days before had taken crack cocaine after a work meeting and been unable to go to meetings for the rest of the day.

A few days later she was meant to visit her father in Huddersfield but only got as far as Oxfordshire before taking drugs.

He told how she was in around £6,000 of debt but he had never considered her as depressed, describing her as bubbly and confident.

"I'm genuinely shocked that she has done this as she didn't seem so desperate," he said.

"I don't know why she has done this but I can only assume she was worried about money."

Dr Eleanor Jaynes, from Southampton General Hospital, who carried out the postmortem, said there were levels of heroin and cocaine in Ms Ramsden's body.

She said in some people the level of heroin found could lead to death, but it depended on the person's tolerance level.

She said that in its initial stages the drug could give the user a feeling of invincibility but it was not possible to know when it had been taken.

Police found evidence of drug use in her Mercedes car found parked on the roof of the car park close to where she fell, but were not able to determine when it had been taken.

Hampshire Police's Detective Constable Laura Hardy, who investigated Ms Ramsden's death, said police were satisfied that no other person had been involved.

Central Hampshire Coroner Grahame Short, recording a verdict of suicide, said he believed Ms Ramsden was coping but said she did have a serious drug problem.

"She was unwilling or perhaps unable to tackle that problem and her dependency on heroin in particular was at the core of her difficulties.

"I have a picture of someone whose life was spiralling out of control and in her more lucid moments I believe she was aware of that fact.

"She was using heroin and to some extent crack cocaine to enable her to function."

Father Peter Ramsden, from Huddersfield, said: "She used to light up every room that she came in.

"Heroin has a dark side that you and I never see."