A High Wycombe man tidied his flat and left details of his funeral arrangements before he was hit by a train, an inquest has heard.

Kevin James, 53, died of multiple injuries weeks before Christmas last year after he was hit by a train in the area of West Wycombe Road.

An inquest into his death at Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court on Wednesday heard that Mr James, who lived in London Road, had suffered for a number of years with depression and anxiety.

He took his own life on the evening of December 5.

His devastated sister Sarah sobbed in the court room as details of her brother’s death were shared.

In a statement read out to the court, train driver Kevin Walsh described how he was approaching High Wycombe on the evening of December 5 when he felt a “bump” which triggered the train’s tripcock, bringing it to a stop.

It was a dark but dry night and Mr Walsh said he did not see anything of concern before the bump, but radioed the signaller, who advised he check the train when he arrived at High Wycombe Railway Station.

When he arrived, he did not notice any signs of an impact so continued his journey to Marylebone.

The driver of a second train, Jake Scott, who was behind, was asked to proceed through the area where Mr Walsh had felt the bump with caution.

The CCTV camera on the front of Mr Scott’s train revealed the tragedy that had clearly taken place and emergency services were called at 9.35pm.

Mr James’s aunt Sue said in a statement that she had a very close relationship with her nephew and the whole family was left devastated by his death.

She described him a “troubled man” who had found his mother’s death around five years ago very difficult to cope with and he had recently suffered some employment issues.

After his death, Mr James’s silver VW Polo was found parked in a nearby High Wycombe road and it was searched.

His sister Sarah also accompanied officer James Pounder from British Transport Police to her brother’s flat and apologised in advance for the scene inside as she said it was usually untidy.

However it had been tidied up and details of his funeral arrangements had been left on the shoe rack next to the front door.

Dr Roxana Curtis from the Riverside Surgery in High Wycombe, which was Mr James’s GP, said that her patient had a history of mental health struggles but had not had any recent interactions with them about the issue.

Crispin Butler, senior coroner for Buckinghamshire, reassured Mr James’s devastated sister that there was nothing she could have done to prevent his death.

He said: “His death comes in the context of long-term mental health issues and no one could get hold of him in the days before his death. There was no indication to anyone close to him that he was going to do something like this.”

He recorded his death as suicide.

In an emotional Facebook post days after his death, Mr James’s sister described her brother as her “rock” and urged everyone not to ignore the signs of depression and mental health struggles in their loved ones.

She wrote: “Although it's nearly Christmas it's also one of the loneliest times of the year, with what everyone's been going through this year, please, please keep in touch with everyone you know that’s on their own and never stop telling them how much you care.

“RIP to the best brother, the best uncle, the best nephew we could ask for, we will be missing you every day that comes, rest easy with mum/grandma, shine bright our beautiful angel we love you so much and that will never change.”

For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit a local Samaritans branch. See samaritans.org for more details.