The father of a man acquitted of killing Matthew Demko was anxious about the possibility of giving evidence in court, his inquest heard.

Stephen Jordan, Michael Jordan’s father, was 52 when he was hit by a train at a crossing near Ashtead Station, on September 25, 2008.

He had been the second person on the scene of Matthew Demko's murder on April 4, 2008 - the Jordan family's garage - and helped his son Michael perfom first aid on Mr Demko while calling 999.

Shortly after his son's arrest, Mr Jordan started suffering with mental health problems, widow Lisa said at his inquest today (July 22).

Mrs Jordan said: "He was not sleeping, he was not eating. He was just very distressed and not quite sure how to deal with it."

She told the court how on April 22 Mr Jordan woke up in a catatonic state and she called an ambulance.

She said: "I think what he said to me when he came out of his catatonic state - he just looked at me and said 'you know I have to kill myself'... I think he just felt like an evilness [was] within him."

He was then admitted to the Priory, in Roehampton, for several weeks. He returned home, but was re-admitted for a few more weeks after his condition deteriorated.

Mr Jordan mentioned several times he wanted to end his life and he would "jump in front of a train" to consultant psychiatrist Dr Glenn Cornish, of Surrey and Borders Partnership.

Mr Cornish said: "He had been very frightened of being verbally abused by neighbours and the local people about the incident involving his son."

Mental health worker Ron Bavin told the inquest Mr Jordan was worried about his court appearance at his son's trial.

He said: "He was very anxious and very concerned and very worried that he would have to give evidence in court because of his son."

He added: "I think one of the things troubling him was the fear of having to go into the witness box and having to be cross-examined."

Mrs Jordan said at the inquest in the weeks before Mr Jordan’s death he had been agitated and on one occasion she had to make three emergency calls "when Stephen was unsettled and we were fearful for our lives and his own".

She said: "Mainly, when you would look into Stephen’s eyes you would just see fear and confusion, but I was beginning to see nothing. He was just going blank."

She said he was behaving strangely the night before he died - when she was cooking dinner and reached for a pot of chives he said "don’t cut them, don’t hurt them".

Rebecca Law, from Ashtead, the last person to see Mr Jordan alive, said she saw him standing at the railway crossing when she was cycling and walking her dog at about 5.15am on the day he died.

She said he did not say anything when she offered for him to cross the railway line first and "barely acknowledged" her.

Deputy coroner Dr Karen Englehart recorded an open verdict.

She said "there is no doubt at all that Mr Jordan was a very troubled man" but she could not be certain whether he intended to take his own life at the time of his death.

* Mr Jordan's son, 27-year-old Michael, was acquitted of Matthew Demko's murder on February 12, 2009.