A HAMPSHIRE woman has described the moment she realised her jilted lover had turned himself into a fireball on her parents driveway.

Ami Nahal had been in a relationship with Nick Davies, 43, for eight months, keeping the affair hidden from her “traditional Sikh” parents, fearing they wouldn’t approve, an inquest heard.

But after she dumped Mr Davies, he drove his van to the home she shares with her parents in Donnington Drive, Chandler’s Ford, and set himself alight.

Ms Nahal was woken when the quiet, leafy suburb was rocked by an explosion in the early hours of Sunday, February 3.

“They became aware of it (the relationship) on the day of Nick’s death,” she said.

“I heard a loud bang. I jumped out of bed and looked out of the window and then called the fire brigade.

“I saw a white van and flames coming out. I ran back upstairs and looked out of my parents’ window – that’s when I recognised the van.”

The court heard that Ms Nahal had broken off the relationship – described as “volatile” – on the Saturday, leaving the Southampton bricklayer “devastated”.

But Mr Davies’ mother, Tina, of Monk’s Way, Eastleigh, told the inquest Ms Nahal had placed her son under too much pressure.

“She bled him dry – financially and emotionally. Nick was a strong man but it did not fit in that he was like a puppet for her.

“We feel like we’re dead ourselves now,” she said.

Ms Nahal denied taking advantage of the father-of-two, and was backed up in her claim by Mr Davies’ friend of 40 years, David Murtagh.

The inquest also heard that shortly before the blaze began, Mr Davies left a voicemail for him to say who should carry his coffin.

At the time of the blaze the street was cordoned off, while firefighters battled to get the blaze under control – only to make the grim discovery of a body on the front seat of the van.

Recording a verdict of suicide, deputy coroner for Central Hampshire Simon Burge said: “What he did was an appalling act of self-destruction, and it’s left to members of the family to deal with that. “I’m satisfied that the relationship had caused him a great deal of pressure and that he was finding it difficult to sustain the relationship because of the demands that it had placed on him, and he simply couldn’t cope.”