A FORMER police officer threw himself under a train after becoming depressed over fears he was going blind, an inquest has heard.

Christopher Newman, who was jailed for 12 months for conspiracy to defraud in 2001, died aged 51 on October 23 last year.

He was hit by an empty train at around 5.30am just outside Swanley railway station.

Mr Newman, who lived in Hollytree Avenue, Swanley, had been carrying a suicide note and had talked of taking his own life in the weeks before his death, the inquest heard.

This followed him developing an eye condition he feared would make him blind, as well as a divorce from the mother of his two teenage daughters around eight years ago.

During the inquest at Gravesend Coroner’s Court, Nicholas Laing, a colleague of Mr Newman’s at the motorcycle courier company where he worked, said he had talked of committing suicide.

Describing the last time he saw Mr Newman on October 17, Mr Laing said: “He kept talking about suicide. He did not appear to have washed for some time.”

Coroner Roger Hatch recorded a verdict of suicide, saying: “Christopher Newman took his own life while the balance of his mind was disturbed.”

After the inquest, Mr Newman’s aunt and uncle, Joan and Fred Wheeler, paid tribute to their nephew, who they said was “a very kind man”.

Mrs Wheeler, aged 69, said: “He was a very nice person who would help anybody if he could. He thought the world of his daughters and they did of him.”

Mr Newman was sacked as a PC and jailed for 12 months in September 2001 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud.

An internal inquiry by the Met found he was involved in the sale of illegal cable television decoders from a computer shop in Lewisham.

The decoders enabled viewers to watch digital TV without paying subscription fees to the cable companies.

Mr Newman had been an officer with the Met for 20 years and was based at Bexleyheath police station.