A HAMPSHIRE man jumped from the fourth floor of IKEA in Southampton after struggling to cope with back pain, an inquest heard.

Winchester Coroner's Court heard Christopher Turner, 56, from Lee On Solent was struggling to cope with the pain, which led to anxiety and a change in personality before his death.

Two days before his death he had told a doctor about his anxieties and had thoughts of jumping in front of a car.

As reported in the Daily Echo, emergency services rushed to West Quay Road on November, 9, but Mr Turner was pronounced dead at the scene.

The court heard he had a spinal cord stimulator installed and was on various medications, however these did not alleviate the pain.

His partner of 32-years Irene Clark told the court that Mr Turner had back pain for five years and had hope it would get better with the implant.

She said: "It seemed to be successful. He came off quite a lot of his medication and he was walking a lot more upright, but unfortunately I did not realise how he was still suffering a lot of pain."

The inquest heard evidence from Joshua Cox, who was walking along West Quay Road.

A statement from Mr Cox said he heard a "slap", as he was looking at his phone and looked away from it he realised Mr Turner was lying motionless on the pavement.

Mr Cox said: "I heard what sounded like a loud slap, I looked back and forward and as I had been answering the phone and I could see a male's body on the ground in front of me, he appeared to be dead."

Mr Cox called an ambulance and spoke to Thomas Presland who was in a van nearby who helped him at the scene.

Senior coroner Grahame Short recorded a verdict of suicide.

Mr Short said: "He had back pain, partly as a result of injuries from his work as a builder and that was clearly very severe, although he had the plant which had helped to some extent the problem had not gone away and he had difficulty sleeping.

"Both of those are chronic conditions which can affect someone mentally I do believe that was a significant component of his low mood.

"It is unclear why matters came to a head on November 9, but it seems from the notes that he wrote that the pain had got too much for him to cope with.

"I do think it was also a case of that there was no relief that was likely to have been a permanent solution and the hope of the implant did not live up to its full potential."