A MAN died when he was hit by a train as he lay on the rails at a Hampshire station, an inquest heard.

Matthew Viggers, 25, was killed instantly when the Southampton to Littlehampton service struck him as it travelled at 50mph through Bursledon station.

Jurors at the Winchester inquest returned a verdict that he had killed himself after suffering depression for three years.

Mr Viggers, of Titchfield Road, Stubbington, had been a patient of The Meadows clinic in Fareham, the hearing was told.

He had ridden his bicycle to the Jolly Sailor pub at Bursledon on the day he died, August 2, ordered two bottles of non-alcoholic lager and drunk them on a jetty overlooking the River Hamble.

He left the pub between 2.30pm and 3pm which was the last time anyone saw him alive.

Leslie Rishman, of Bognor Regis, West Sussex, described how he was driving the Southern Trains service through Bursledon station at 4.25pm when he spotted a person lying across the rails.

He said: "I saw there was a person lying on the running rail and electrified line. There was no sign of movement at all."

He added that he had put on the emergency brake but had not been able to stop the train in time.

The inquest heard that there was no way of telling whether Mr Viggers had still been alive when the train hit him as there was no-one at the unmanned station, which did not have TV cameras.

Mr Viggers had first shown signs of mental health problems after losing his girlfriend and job.