LATE in the morning on Friday, June 10, Russell Stevens sat himself on the edge of a railway bridge with the intention of taking his own life.

The 37-year-old was, in his own words, "in crisis" after experiencing problems at home on top of his health problems.

After more than five hours police negotiators were able to talk him down from the bridge near New Milton Station, by which time thousands of rail travellers had seen their journeys delayed.

Mr Stevens, who lives in the town, said he had gone to the bridge after being unable to get expert help when he needed it.

"I have very little recollection of what happened," said Mr Stevens, who has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, depression and anxiety.

"There were a lot of things leading up to this. I was not in a good place.

"I have suicidal thoughts daily and they had been growing more and more until they became unbearable."

The former care worker contacted the Daily Echo to respond to comments made by readers, who had questioned how the incident had come about and how it was handled by the authorities.

"People have said I should have gone and got help, that there is help out there," he said.

"I think this is seriously misguided. They haven't been part of that system, trying to get help when you are in crisis."

He said a lack of mental health support for people suffering a 'mental health crisis' - an officially used term - was a problem nationwide, and was putting pressure on other services including the police, as he said happened last week.

"Mental health services are not taking crisis seriously," he said.

"There is a desperate need to have the appropriate support in place to prevent a crisis from escalating.

"I saw my psychiatrist the day before this happened and he told me he felt our time together had run its course.

"When there is no provision in place it becomes somebody else's problem, usually the police.

"It is an absolute waste of police time. There have been cuts to the police but they have to deal with people like me when they aren't trained to do so."

Mr Stevens is currently discussing obtaining new mental health support with his GP.

Only two days before the incident he had attended a focus group discussion with ministers in Parliament, taking place before a debate on last year's NHS investigation which identified management failings at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

He had journeyed up by rail, a trip which was delayed when a person died on the tracks in Surrey.

He said: "There are a large percentage of people in our prisons who potentially may not have been there if they had got help with their illnesses.

"I don't know how we can call ourselves a civilised society when we treat people like that."

Long queues formed outside railway stations including Bournemouth and Brockenhurst during the incident, although services resumed around an hour after Mr Stevens left the bridge.

After the incident he was arrested on suspicion of obstructing a train and released on bail.