Rafael Ochoa had been studying intensively as well as training hard for a golf tournament when he started to suffer from anxiety
A 23-year-old Oxford University student jumped in front of a train after struggling with the crippling pressures from his PhD, an inquest heard today.
Rafael Ochoa was studying intensively as well as training hard for a tournament with the university golf team when he started to suffer from anxiety.
The computer engineering student had spoken to his GP about his struggles and promised her he would not act upon suicidal thoughts he was having.
But Mr Ochoa jumped in front of a London Paddington-bound train in April last year at Appleford railway station, Oxford Coroner’s Court was told.
He had completed his first class master’s at Oxford in computer science, after getting a first class degree and master’s in engineering at Cambridge University.
He was two thirds of the way through his first year studying for a PhD in computer science, which was set to continue until 2021, when he travelled 11 miles to Appleford station near Didcot in Oxfordshire and stood on the platform waiting for a train to pass through.
Mr Ochoa, who had completed his first class master’s degree at Oxford in computer science, was a cox at the Sommerville Boat Club
Mr Ochoa was a captain of the Divots team, the men’s second team, of the Oxford University golf club, a cox at the Sommerville Boat Club and a member of the Hertford College Chapel Choir.
The boat club named a competition rowing boat after the cox and Somervile replaced their usual Sunday service with a memorial for choir member and invited his family and friends to remember his life.
Today assistant coroner Nicholas Graham said Mr Ochoa, originally from Bilbao, Spain, had gone to his GP Dr Helen Salisbury and told her about his anxiety.
She said in a written report that he was feeling ‘very anxious relating to academic work and a sporting event.’
The university confirmed in a statement that the PhD student was due to participate in a golfing tournament in which Mr Ochoa had been training hard for.
Mr Ochoa was described by Professor Stephen Faulkner, the Dean at Keble College in Oxford, as an excelling student who earned ‘very positive reports’ and was ‘actively involved in the university golf club’.
Mr Ochoa jumped in front of a London Paddington-bound train in April last year at Appleford railway station in Oxfordshire
In the early evening of April 26 last year, he was pictured on CCTV standing on the edge of a southbound platform at Appleford station.
At 8.24pm, he jumped in front of an oncoming train passing the station at 25 to 30mph, and died instantly from traumatic injuries to the base of his skull.
The driver, Mr James Scholes, said he had seen a young man with dark hair stand very close to the edge of the platform as the three-carriage train was approaching the station.
‘I sounded the horn, and when I saw him jump I hit the brakes,’ Mr Scholes said. ‘I can affirm the man’s actions were intentional.’
Later that day, officers from Thames Valley Police entered Mr Ochoa’s flat and found a number of letters in his room that suggested he was going to take his life.
Police Constable Michael Tryhorn said: ‘One of these was intimating that he was considering jumping in front of a train.’
Consultant pathologist Professor Elizabeth Soilleux said: ‘This 23-year-old gentleman was seen standing alone on a train station. As the train drew very close he jumped in front of it.
‘Very severe head injuries had occurred as a consequence of a very severe fracture to the base of the skull caused by Mr Ochoa’s actions. At the time of his death Mr Ochoa was a PhD student at Oxford University.’
She added that the student had moderate levels of diazepam, a potent beta blocker that had been prescribed to him by his GP.
Dr Salisbury confirmed she had prescribed the drugs after the young man told her he was struggling with anxiety.
She said Mr Ochoa had previously been prescribed antidepressants in 2011 by a GP practice in Cambridge after describing similar symptoms.
Mr Graham recorded his death as suicide by traumatic head injuries.
Concluding the case, he said: ‘On April 26, 2016 at 8.24pm, Rafael Ochoa jumped from a southbound platform at Appleford railway station… and was struck by the oncoming train.
‘I think the appropriate conclusion in this case and which I am going to record is the one of suicide. The medical cause of death has been established by evidence as by traumatic injuries.’
