A POSTAL worker who died after falling from a West Dorset cliff showed no signs of being suicidal, a coroner heard.

Jack McDonnell, 27, of Jessops Avenue, Bridport, was found at the bottom of East Cliff, West Bay, on July 30.

The inquest was told that he died of multiple injuries from a fall of a considerable height.

West Dorset District Coroner Michael Johnston recorded an open verdict.

He said: "I'm not happy to say he killed himself.

"He died of falling from a cliff but there will be an open verdict as to whether he intended to kill himself or not."

The inquest was told that on the night he died Mr McDonnell had been out celebrating with his friend, Rory Larcombe, 40, who had found out he was going to be a grandfather for the first time.

Mr Larcombe, 40, said they had been drinking in The Ropemakers pub in the town and Mr McDonnell had been in high spirits.

He said: "He was happy, merry, over the top like he always was when he was happy for you.

"He kept slapping me on the back and calling me granddad."

At about 9.30pm Mr McDonnell realised he had lost some cannabis and when he could not find it he said: "I've had enough of this, I'm going on."

Mr Larcombe said he was only as upset as anyone would be if they had lost a £20 note and he presumed he was going home.

He said: "If I'd had any inkling that was going to happen I would have sat on him. I would have physically held him down and faced the consequences for doing it."

The inquest was told that the pair regularly played the Dungeons and Dragons game together and Mr McDonnell had said he would see him in the next day or so.

An hour later Mr Larcombe got a phone call from another friend, Robert Graham, concerned over a strange text message from Mr McDonnell.

In a statement, Mr Graham said he had received a text message at 10.14pm saying: "Tell mum I'm sorry and tell her to tell my sisters I'm sorry but I'm done. Can't cope anymore."

Mr Graham said that his friend had ended a relationship a year before and had recently lost his job at the post office and was awaiting the result of a tribunal.

He said it had made him depressed and compounded other issues in his life.

The two friends began searching for Mr McDonnell and the first place they looked was Eype.

Mr Larcombe said: "That's where Jack's dad died 20 years ago and he died of a similar thing.

"The next obvious place was West Bay."

He told the inquest that he was expecting to find Mr McDonnell sat on the beach staring at the sea and was 'absolutely shocked' to discover a group of officials on the beach, and to have to identify the body.

A toxicology report by Dr Mark Deverell at Dorset County Hospital found that Mr McDonnell had 216mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood - almost three times the drink-drive limit.

In a statement, Dr Deverell said the cause of death was multiple injuries from a fall of a considerable height.