A “WARM, smiley” young man who plummeted to his death from a cliff was “tortured by his own head”.

Benedict Findlay, 23, of Sackville Road, Hove, had been suffering psychosis and hearing voices when he fell from 60ft from the cliffs at Telscombe on October 19, landing on the beach below.

Giving evidence at an inquest into his death, his mother Anna Findlay said Benedict, known as Ben, had always liked walking along walls and edges.

Keen skateboarder Ben first became mentally unwell while studying astrophysics in Holland aged 19. He was taken to suffering psychosis.

He was sectioned twice under the Mental Health Act, but had never expressed any desire to hurt himself or take his life. Having been detained at Millview hospital in Hove in August 2018 he moved to Rutland Gardens community ward in November that year. A month before his death he moved into supported accommodation at Pegasus House in Sackville Road.

Mrs Findlay said the last time she spoke to her son on the phone he was hearing voices

He told her: “I can’t talk any more because people are listening.”

They continued talking via Whatsapp until just after midnight on the morning of his death.

In his last message to his mother he said “goodnight”.

Mrs Findlay told the inquest at Brighton Coroner’s Court on Tuesday: “There were dark times in the last ten days of his life. He was really agitated.

“He would talk to me about the voices. They were saying nasty things and shouting at him.

“He was clearly really struggling, but trying to work through it.

“He used to go for long walks when he couldn’t sleep.

“When he was really poorly he would walk through the night.

“He liked to walk on edges, kerbs and walls.

“The kind of thing that a two-year-old does but he never stopped.

“In my opinion it would be a bit risky, he would walk on the kerb on the edge of busy roads – but not on the edge of a cliff.

“I thought he was leaving it to chance to see whether fate would take his life, if the cliff crumbled or it was dark and he was close to the edge.

“But the police officer said he was found with his arms placed across his body.

“I would think if you fell you would have your arms out?”

Trina Taylor, who was the ward manager at Rutland Gardens and worked at Millview while Ben was being treated there, knew him well.

She said: “He was warm, smiley, jokey.

“He never talked about wanting to end his life.

“He would walk so far he would get blisters.

“He would say ‘I have been to Telscombe or Peacehaven’.”

Consultant psychiatrist David Gregory said Ben was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder and Asperger’s but did not identify with any of the social symptoms.

Assistant coroner Gilva Tisshaw concluded that Ben had taken his own life.

She said: “Whilst he was saying positive things about the future to friends and family, Ben may have had real issues when he was out walking on October 19.

“On the balance of probabilities I have to believe that Ben took his own life.”