A 23-year-old suffering from depression committed suicide by jumping off Southend Pier, a coroner ruled today.

The body of Ayanle Yusef, of Essex Close in Walthamstow, was pulled from the water 20 metres from the pier by members of the public on June 21 last year.

His brother Mohammed told an inquest in Chelmsford today that Mr Yusef had mentioned suicide a year before.

Paramedics confirmed he died at the scene and was not in possession of any identification.

The coroner was told that an Oyster card and an MP3 player were found under the pier, as well as two handwritten maps.

One showed an area of the Western Esplanade in Southend and the other detailed Blackhorse Lane in Walthamstow – a street close to Mr Yusef’s home.

“I have come to the sad conclusion that he intended to take his own life,” coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray said.

“I bear in mind the deliberateness of what he did, namely to go to Southend and jump off the pier. He was not thinking straight.”

The Somali-born sales assistant, who lived with his brother and mother, had been urged at length to seek medical help by his family.

“I encouraged him several times to go and see a doctor but he was just so stubborn,” Mohammed Yusef said.

“He seemed to have a numb appearance, showing no emotion of any kind.”

He added that the pair had difficult childhoods and that he was aware his brother struggled with depression.
He said that they had visited Southend as children many years ago.

“I was scared to bring up the topic again. I was very, very terrified.

“I didn’t know how to approach it. He seemed to be getting better and at the same time to be getting worse. I didn’t know what to do,” he said.

The brothers last saw each other as they passed on the steps in their home on the morning Ayanle jumped from the pier.