A MAN who killed himself by stepping in front of a train sent friends a video threatening to jump just weeks before his death – but they assumed it was a joke.

Friends of Nigel Smith, who had taken cocaine on the day he committed suicide, told an inquest his death was “completely out of the blue”.

Described as a “funny and positive” 21-year-old, the former Andover College student was busy planning a ski season with friends and making plans for the summer.

The inquest at Central Hampshire Coroner’s Court heard that Mr Smith died of multiple injuries after standing on the track at Finkley, under bridge near Andover, on April 26.

Toxicology tests showed a recreational level of cocaine and a low level of paracetamol in his blood and urine.

Mr Smith’s brother, Jonathan Smith, of Alton, said the news came as a shock as he seemed positive and the two had been regularly meeting up.

“He was very funny,” he said. “He liked to wind people up.

“For me, when we got the call, I couldn’t really believe it because since February we had been hanging out a lot.

“He was expressing his desire to move on in his education.”

He added that his brother, a former Peter Symonds student and forklift operator, did not regularly take drugs and he only knew of two occasions when he had.

The two were planning to go to Oktoberfest in Germany and a short break to Europe.

But the hearing also heard from friend Anthony Ryan, who said two months before Mr Smith’s death he received a video from him, on Snapchat, showing a moving train with the caption ‘I might jump in front of that’.

“We didn’t think anything of it until it happened,” he said. “We thought it was a joke.”

Train driver Mark Williams, who said he recorded the journey from Basingstoke to Eastleigh on his iPad because his daughter was also a train driver and wanted to see the route, also gave evidence at the hearing.

He said the journey went without incident until he saw Mr Smith, of Lime Walk in Andover, step onto the track.

He said: “He calmly and deliberately stepped into the path of the train.

“I could not believe what was happening.

“I sounded my horn hoping he would get away but he just stood facing me with his arms stretched out. There was nothing I could do.”

The video footage given to the police as evidence.

DC Gerry Griffin, of BTP’s fatality investigation team, said he tried to check Mr Smith’s phone but it was too damaged.

Senior coroner Grahame Short said it was a perplexing case and ruled a verdict of suicide.

He said: “I think the real question, and I don’t think I can answer, is why he did this?

“He was 21-years-old, had a job, no financial worries it would seem, he had no history of depression or any other mental illness.

“He had taken some cocaine but I don’t think that would explain why he did this or what was going on in his mind.”