A YOUNG father who was subjected to an online campaign accusing him of harassment killed himself by crashing his car into a tree.

Ben Ghafoor, 25, died after his car collided with an oak tree near Peverells Wood Avenue in Chandler’s Ford, an inquest was told.

Hours before, an ex-partner had posted accusations on Facebook accusing him of harassment which had been shared 200 times and commented on more than 900 times.

Mr Ghafoor, of Wyndham Drive, Romsey, had reported the post to the police and Facebook in the hope of having it taken down.

Winchester’s Coroner’s Court heard that this post had a detrimental effect on Mr Ghafoor’s state of mind.

In a statement to police Chloe Dawkins, who was with Mr Ghafoor on his last evening, said she believed he was suffering an anxiety attack.

“He was talking about Facebook,” she said. “He said the post on Facebook would ruin his life.

“He was scared of being attacked.”

At just after 11pm, on the night before the fatal crash, the body shop technician sent a farewell text message to the mother of his five-year-old daughter - who was not the person who posted the Facebook message.

Stuart Marrs who witnessed the crash said: “I remember a car overtaking another one that was stationary on the main road. I thought this was strange because there is nowhere to pull in.

“We got about halfway across the road and the vehicle started to move very fast.

“I remember saying to me Ma ‘he’s going to hit that tree’.”

Mr Marrs and his mother then raced to the site of the crash and pulled Mr Ghafoor from the wreckage, performing CPR until paramedics arrived.

Mr Ghafoor was rushed to Southampton General Hospital but was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.

Crash investigator Tony Johnson said the car had no previous defects and that it had struck the tree at 54 mph

Pathologist Sanjay Jogai said Mr Ghafoor had died from severe head injuries caused by the crash.

Senior coroner Grahame Short said he believed the Facebook post was the catalyst for Mr Ghafoor’s actions

He said, “He could not cope with what he envisioned were the consequences of the Facebook post.

“He decided to end his life as he saw it as the only solution to his problem.”

Mr Short concluded that Mr Gafoor’s death was the result of suicide.

Following the inquest, his family released the following statement: “We cannot put into words how much Ben meant to us. We miss him every second of every day.

Ben was a confident, happy, kind, young man with no history of depression.

“We can only conclude that the Facebook post that was shared and commented on the evening of the crash signed his death warrant.

“The impact of the post made him feel like he could no longer carry on.

“We hope this will make people think before they post or share posts of a personal nature.

“We would like to thank the emergency services for all their efforts when trying to save Ben.”