A man with a long history of depression, whose condition was "exacerbated beyond belief" by the death of his son, killed himself by jumping from the top floor of a city centre car park.
A Bradford inquest was told that retired health care assistant Bernard Dean, 59, suffered from anxiety and depression and had been in and out of Lynfield Mount Hospital. His condition had worsened after his son Oliver was killed in a road traffic accident in 2001.
Mr Dean, a father of three who lived with his wife Elaine on Thornton Road, Bradford, had tried to take his own life in the past, the hearing was told.
In July last year Mr Dean ended his life by jumping from the top of the NCP car park, at Southgate in Bradford city centre.
Coroner Roger Whittaker was told Mr Dean and his wife drove to Morrisons supermarket in Girlington and that he waited in the car while she did some shopping.
But when she returned to the car her husband was missing and had left a note saying where he had gone.
Mrs Dean rushed to try and get there but tragically by the time she arrived it was too late.
Mrs Dean told the coroner she was concerned about the size of the barriers on each level of the car park but the coroner said that he was satisfied that they were of an adequate height.
"If someone is determined to take their own life there are always means which they can adopt," Mr Whittaker said.
Recording a verdict of suicide he added that his son's death had "exacerbated beyond belief" Mr Dean's depression.
"It's clear that for many years Mr Dean was suffering with depression and has attempted to take his own life before. These were serious attempts not just cries for help," he said.
Mr Dean's son Oliver, 19, died in a car accident at Hollins Hill, near Guiseley.
An inquest at the time was told that Oliver, a newly-qualified driver, had been driving his mother's Vauxhall Astra when it veered across the road and was in a head-on collision with a Honda Civic. A 72-year-old woman, who was driving the Honda, and a 77-year-old woman, who was a back seat passenger, also died in the accident.
Speaking after the inquest, Mr Dean said he and his wife would never get over their son's death.
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