MYSTERY surrounds the reason why a popular and successful teacher - who revealed he had "dark thoughts" - jumped to his death from the top of a multi-storey car park.

Ian Campbell, of Warndon, Worcester, was just 37 and deputy head at Hagley RC High School when he leapt off CrownGate car park in Worcester city centre at around 7.30am on Monday, January 10.

Half an hour earlier he had been working on school paperwork and told his wife, Virginia, he was feeling achy and tired.

At an inquest yesterday, it was revealed he told her that he had "dark thoughts" while she was at a Christmas party about a month earlier. He did not go because he felt uncomfortable in large crowds.

But Mrs Campbell, a supply teacher at different schools, could not offer an explanation for his suicide.

The week beforehand, he withdrew himself from exams to become a headteacher, DC Gareth Thomas, from West Mercia CID told the court.

It is thought this was because he feared he would not pass. He was teaching computer skills, and he confided in his wife that he thought he was not up to the job.

But Ted Hammond, the headteacher at the school, near Kidderminster, said there was no cause for concern in a meeting with his colleague five days earlier.

On the Monday of his death, Mr Campbell woke at his normal 5.30am, had breakfast with his wife and worked on his laptop.

At 7.35am he bought a ticket at the car park and, two minutes later, he had jumped 40ft from the top storey.

There was no suicide note. He died from injuries sustained as he hit the ground.

Mr Campbell "bottled up" the reason why he jumped, conjectured Worcestershire Coroner Victor Round.

"People who set themselves high targets very often keep to themselves the things that drive them. They are driven by the standards they set themselves," he said.

"He just bottled it up and was just pushing and pushing himself."

Mr Campbell's father, Kenneth, said the police had conducted a thorough investigation into his son's death.

Mr Round recorded Mr Campbell took his own life.