A MAN left paralysed after he jumped off a motorway bridge never recovered his health and died at Christmas, an inquest heard.

Paraplegic Steven Perry, 45, suffered serious head and spinal cord injuries during the fall onto the M61 in 1995.

An inquest at Ribble Valley Town Hall in Clitheroe heard yesterday how the building labourer developed mental health problems in the early 1990s.

Speaking at the inquest, his father Laurence Perry described his son, who was living with his parents in Chorley at the time, as a very fit man, who was interested in body-building.

But he said he began taking steroids, which may have affected his mood.

Police took Mr Kelly to a mental health unit at Eaves Lane Hospital in Chorley after they found him on a motorway bridge in the summer of 1992.

He visited the unit for three years, but in August 1995, while his parents were on holiday, a neighbour, Christopher Nelson, spotted him on the bridge over the M61 at Bottany Bay.

He jumped onto the motorway, and while he was not hit by any traffic, his injuries were so serious that he never walked again.

After the incident Mr Perry was detained at Calderstones Hospital in Whalley under the mental health act.

Dr Steven Rowe, consultant psychiatrist at Calderstones, said Mr Kelly suffered from an organic personality and behavioural disorder, and lived in a single flat with 24-hour support in the hospital's Maplewood ward.

He said Mr Kelly was prone to memory loss, aggression and emotional outbursts, plus delusional beliefs and hallucinatory episodes.

On Christmas Day last year Mr Perry fell ill.

Doctors found his chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder was so severe that he did not respond to any treatment, and on December 31, with the family's consent, doctors decided to stop treatment and let him die a natural death.

A jury said Mr Kelly died from COPD and paraplegia and recorded a verdict of narrative conclusion.