A teenager told his parents ‘see you on the other side’ before throwing himself in front of a train after becoming overwhelmed by a cocaine and gambling habit.
Bradley Whittle, 19, left a ‘goodbye’ voicemail message to his mother and father then stepped in the path of a Virgin train travelling at 100mph, an inquest heard.
Mr Whittle, from Greater Manchester, died at the scene.
The footballer had fallen into debt with gambling after suffering with a drug addiction.
He referred himself to the charity Addaction and was prescribed antidepressants, but the stress of his gambling debt led him to take an overdose in May last year.
His parents questioned whether he should be admitted to a psychiatric hospital but he was discharged from hospital after a 15-minute assessment at A&E. Medics said he should seek help at home.
As Mr Whittle, a business administration assistant, spiralled further into his addictions, it impacted his personal and work life.
Following the breakdown of a relationship in early 2019, he sought mental health support and despite reassuring clinicians he was doing well, he soon begun talking about ending his own life until he finally did it.
