March 1, 2007
Cabbie recalls horror of watching man jump off bridge
By James Durkin
A HORRIFIED taxi driver watched a man plunge 40 feet from a bridge on to Reading's inner distribution road after begging him not to jump.
An inquest heard Stanley Ilsley, of Elizabeth Walk, Reading, died almost instantly.
On November 7 last year, Reading minicab driver Mohammed Afsar was driving towards Chatham Street at 12.45am.
He said: "I looked up and saw someone with one leg over the bridge and facing the IDR.
"By the time I pulled up on the other side of the road he had one hand on the railing but his whole body was hanging over the edge. I was shocked.
"I think I shouted 'please don't jump'. He kept holding on and I thought he was saying 'Let me do what I want to do'.
"I glanced away and when I looked back he just wasn't there any more."
Mr Afsar ran to the railings and saw Mr Ilsley's body crumpled in the inside lane below.
The 63-year-old, who has two grown-up sons and a daughter, had a long history of alcohol abuse and had attempted suicide
from another bridge spanning the IDR in 1980. He spent seven months recovering from his injuries after leaping from the Castle Street roundabout.
A post mortem revealed Mr Ilsley would have been nearly three times over the drin-drive limit, and died of massive chest injuries. Police found a written note in his pocket giving his name and next of kin.
Estranged wife Margaret believed he planned to end his life. It also emerged he'd emptied his bank account in the weeks prior to his death and complained to his GP of feeling depressed.
The coroner recorded a suicide verdict.
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