A schizophrenic songwriter who fell from a High Wycombe car park told officers he did not want to die, an inquest heard yesterday.

Nicholas Godfrey-Cass died hours after falling nine stories from the top of Wycombe Swan Car Park in the early hours of November 27.

Police received a call from the ambulance service at 12.16am that someone had jumped from the top of the car park, Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court, in Beaconsfield, was told.

Mr Godfrey-Cass was conscious when help arrived as two residents living nearby rushed to his aid after hearing a “loud shout and a bang” from Wycombe Swan Car Park.

The 34-year-old told police: “I don’t want to die”. He also asked them to “help him”, the court heard.

However, after being transported to the John Radcliffe Hospital, in Oxford, Mr Godfrey-Cass was pronounced dead at 2.38am. The cause of death was listed as multiple injuries due to a fall.

Mr Godfrey-Cass, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, was receiving treatment for his condition.

Medical staff and his family noted that in the weeks leading up to his death, he seemed very well and was even making plans for the future.

A mobile phone found in Mr Godfrey-Cass’ Totteridge Road flat held a text message he had sent to his mother at about 5.30pm the evening before he died in which said he loved her.

Coroner, Richard Hulett, returned a narrative verdict due to the lack of evidence that Mr Godfrey-Cass jumped, and did not fall, from the top of the car park.

He said: “[An] assumption was made from a very early stage that he jumped from a building but there is no evidence that he jumped.”

Mr Hulett added that he had to be certain that Mr Godfrey-Cass intended to take his own life if he was to rule a verdict of suicide.

He said: “[There is] no doubt that he came down from that building to the ground. Those injuries were no doubt very severe... but what was on his mind and what his intention was I don’t know.

“And then you have the conversation with the police officer on the ground where he said he didn’t want to die and they did what they could to help him.”

The coroner recorded a narrative verdict.