A YOUNG woman pilot has described the last moments of an SAS veteran who deliberately leapt 5,000 feet to his death from a light plane.

An inquest heard how Charles 'Nish' Bruce, 45, a decorated veteran of the Falklands and Northern Ireland, unbuckled his seatbelt and without any warning jumped from the Cessna 172 Skyhawk without a parachute on January 8 of this year.

He landed on a football pitch at Fifield near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire.

Pilot Judith Haig, 29, Mr Bruce's friend and business partner, told the inquest how she had tried to stop him while flying the plane towards RAF Brize Norton for an emergency landing because of icing on the wings.

"As I was getting to Brize, I noticed he began to slide his feet back. I just seemed to have sense of what was going on when he looked out of the window. He turned around, said a few words to me, and I asked him to help me fly the aircraft," she said.

"He said I was doing fine, he had obviously thought it through. It all happened so fast. I heard him unbuckle his seatbelt, it's a very distinctive click. He tried to conceal it from me.

"He turned to get out. I grabbed hold of him, trying to hold on with one hand to control the aircraft, and one hand on him. There was quite a lot of movement in the cockpit."

Miss Haig told the inquest in Oxford how he then leapt out of the door.

Coroner Nicholas Gardiner recorded that he took his own life.

The pair had been ferrying the plane from Spain to Northamptonshire.

Mr Bruce, a Red Devil skydiver whose 1998 autobiography 'Freefall' chronicled his battle with mental illness and obsession with skydiving, was well known in Hereford.

Having joined the parachute regiment aged 17, he went on to serve the Special Air Services regiment and lived for a number of years in Hereford. He was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal in 1986 and worked as a bodyguard for celebrities like comedian Jim Davidson.

Breakdown

In 'Freefall' he documented his spiral into psychotic breakdown and time spent in asylum at home and abroad.

A final chapter passage said: "Why am I so miserable? The nights are the worst. That's when I start thinking about suicide because it's the only solution I can arrive at."

A statement issued after the inquest by Miss Haig's parents said: "Charles Bruce, Nish to his friends and colleagues, was a fine and rare man who generated huge affection, immense respect from those who were fortunate enough to know him in his whirlwind passage through life.

"He was a credit to his country which he was proud to serve with deep commitment and integrity. He will be sorely missed by all those who were closest to him. It is time to let Nish rest in peace."