Brendan Neville jumped from the Itchen Bridge after a split with his fiancée, Victoria Randall. Neville rode his motorbike to the bridge connecting Itchen to Southhampton early in the morning before jumping from the railings.

Jeffery Nowacki, one of the witnesses at the scene, was driving his wife to work that morning and spotted Neville on the ledge looking into the water below. He allegedly tried to talk the scientist out of jumping.

He told an inquest into Neville’s death that he stood only a foot and a half away and told the distraught Neville to think about his family. He also said something to the effect of things could not being as bad as they seemed that the time.

Neville looked at him as if he were looking through him. He turned around and let go of the support, hurtling down into the water.

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Suicide Pixabay

The impact did not kill Neville instantly. He suffered brain damage and several chest fractures, not to mention hypothermia.

Emergency services arrived at the scene and called the coast guard to assist in retrieving Neville from the ice-cold waters. He was after that rushed to Southhampton general hospital but unfortunately succumbed to his injuries. His family and fiancée were at his side.

Neville worked as a data scientist at Zurich insurance and had been struggling with the breakup for some time. Randall claimed they were still in communication after the breakup and had hoped they could get back together.

She told the coroner she and her former fiancée had broken up because of her battle with anorexia and his drinking problem.

On the first of February, Neville came home with a bouquet saying he wanted to get back together with her. Unfortunately, she said she needed space, and they agreed for her to have the flat for a week.

Randall was guilty, and he was obviously disappointed about the way things ended. He allegedly visited a doctor two days before his suicide after going through a panic attack but was only prescribed antidepressants.

Neville wrote a goodbye letter to his fiancée and family, where he apologized for what he was about to do. The family stated his mental state was never an issue because he was not a flight risk for depression.

Investigations thus far show this was a deliberate act and no one could have known what he was planning to do the morning of the sixth of February. The authorities’ statement read that Neville knew the results of a fall from the bridge and put his plan into action.