A MAN who died after being hit by a train near Hereford Railway Station told police officers earlier that day that he had split up with his girlfriend and wanted to kill himself.

Hours before stepping on to the tracks on August 1, 2013, Luftar Coku, from Llanwarne, was detained under the Mental Heath Act after threatening to throw himself under a train, an inquest into Mr Coku’s death heard today.

His friends, fearing for his safety, had called police to the White Lion pub in Leominster at around 2.30pm.

When PC Sowery arrivedon the scene, the inquest heard, Mr Coku seemed depressed and wouldn’t look at him when he spoke. The 39-year-old told the officer that he ended his relationship with his girlfriend and she didn’t want to speak to him.

PC Sowery said: “I told him he needed to go to the hospital, and he said ‘yes, take me there’. I was concerned he may try and kill himself and that he may be successful.”

PC Steven Adams was one of two officers who detained Mr Coku, taking him to Hereford County Hospital, where he was handed over to a nurse in the A&E department.

Just two hours later, Mr Coku was being flown to the critical care unit in Birmingham having been hit by a train. He died there a week later as a result of a traumatic head injury, the inquest heard.

GP Michael Davies said that Mr Coku had no previous instances of depression in the four years he had been near Llanwarne.

And PC Adams said that, even while he was transporting Mr Coku to hospital he showed “no red flags”.

He said: “He was very, very compliant.”

The inquest, being heard by assistant coroner Roland Wooderson at Hereford Town Hall, continues.