Sanchez Manning AN IRANIAN-BORN scientist died instantly after jumping out of a second-floor window at his home in St John s Wood, an inquest heard. Mohammed Karbassi, 40, was suffering from depression and had been discharged from the mental health unit o

Sanchez Manning

AN IRANIAN-BORN scientist died instantly after jumping out of a second-floor window at his home in St John's Wood, an inquest heard.

Mohammed Karbassi, 40, was suffering from depression and had been discharged from the mental health unit of The Priory weeks before he killed himself, it was told.

On Sunday May 10, his distressed parents called police to report that their son had disappeared from their apartment in Hanover House, St John's Wood High Street.

PC David Anderson, one of the investigating officers who gave evidence at Westminster Coroner's Court on Wednesday, said: "We received a message to say someone had taken an overdose. This later changed to a person who was missing."

PC Anderson said the police officers extended their search to Regent's Park, looking for a 40-year-old man wearing blue pyjamas. But after this quest to find Mr Karbassi proved fruitless, the team returned to Hanover House.

"I was stood on the doorstep just about to make a missing person report and it came over the radio, 'Go to Hanover House - someone has jumped out of the window'," PC Anderson told the court. It emerged that Mr Karbassi had thrown himself from a second-floor window at 11.55pm on May 10, landing in the courtyard of the building where he lived.

The results of a post-mortem examination by Dr Peter Wilkinson revealed that he had died instantly from multiple head injuries.

In a statement read to the court, Dr Wilkinson said: "He had multiple injuries that were incompatible with survival - damage to the brain and scalp."

Mr Karbassi was born in Tehran on October 31, 1968, and moved the UK as a young boy.

He came from a tight-knit family and attended King's College, where he graduated with a degree in biotechnology.

He studied as a postgraduate at the London School of Economics and went on to work for the Medical Research Council.

Mr Karbassi was a keen runner, and coroner's officer Kim Bedwell told the inquest that he would be remembered for "being fun, with an engaging manner and dry wit".

But over the years Mr Karbassi developed an obsessive compulsive disorder and began suffering from depression. In May 2009, he was referred by his GP, Dr Dennis Abadi, to consultant psychiatrist Dr John Cobb, who later passed him on to Dr Andrew Zamar at The Priory.

Mr Karbassi spent a few months at the hospital, which has treated troubled celebrities, but discharged himself in April 2009 - weeks months before he killed himself.

Recording a verdict of death from multiple injuries, Dr Knapman said: "It seems clear to me that Mohammed Karbassi was suffering from the illness of depression and suffering from this condition he decided on a course of action. He decided to jump out of a window to his death.