A HAMPSHIRE man was killed in a low-speed collision at Winchester railway station.

Mervyn Pockett, 58, died instantly he was struck by the train late on Easter Saturday last year.

The death caused the station to be temporarily closed, disrupting late night passenger services on the holiday weekend.

Mr Pockett, unemployed, of Wellington Terrace, Winklebury, Basingstoke, had suffered multiple injuries, although consultant pathologist Dr Adnan Al-Badri said the injuries were not as severe as in high-speed collisions.

The train driver Lyndon Harper said he was leaving the station, Southampton-bound, at around 11.30pm and at around 20 mph when he spotted an object on the track between the rails, just south of the platform.

Mr Harper, of Desborough Road, Eastleigh, stopped the nine-car train and walked back to check, discovering Mr Pockett’s body.

Mr Harper disputed that his train had struck Mr Pockett: “I think the body was already on the rails. It wasn’t moving. I would have heard the strike. I never heard (anything).”

His view was supported by PC John Lang, of British Transport Police. Examination of the train showed no evidence of a collision. He said he had been unable to trace the train that had struck Mr Pockett. “It is unusual in these cases, I must say.”

Alice Bennett, project manager at Portal House hostel in Basingstoke, where Mr Pockett lived, said: “He is the sweetest person you could have wished for. He was never unkind, very gentle. He got on with everyone. He used to make people laugh.”

Miss Bennett said he was struggling to overcome alcoholism, hiding alcohol in his room. “He couldn’t stop drinking, but he wanted to,” she added.

The inquest also heard that Mr Pockett had suffered depression and had tried to commit suicide at Basingstoke railway station in 1987.

Grahame Short, central Hampshire coroner, said there was no evidence that Mr Pockett intended to kill himself or that his death was an accident.

The seven-woman and one-man jury returned an open verdict.