A ‘highly intelligent’ software developer leapt to his death from the 150 foot high Meldon Viaduct, an inquest heard.

An inquest heard Dan Kirkham had gained a first class honours degree in maths and computer science at Imperial College, London, and had worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Met Office.

The coroner was told by his father Francis that his son ‘could not bear his life’.

He told the Exeter hearing: ‘He was a very private person and felt suicidal most of the time and wanted to die. It was genuine, not a cry for help.

‘He was kind and highly intelligent with a very good sense of humour in an unassuming way. He saw no point to life.’

Dan’s wife, a healthcare assistant, said he ‘hated life’ and ‘never saw the point in existing’.

Dad of one Dan, of Thursby Walk, Exeter, had tried to kill himself on previous occasions but went to the Meldon Viaduct because that was a favourite place to visit.

He had a history of depression and died from multiple injuries after jumping from the viaduct to a country road below at Meldon near Okehampton. Coroner Alison Longhorn recorded a suicide conclusion.