MYSTERY surrounds the reason why a magician plunged to his death from a railway viaduct.

An open verdict was yesterday recorded into the death of 45-year-old Kevin Reay, at an inquest in Dur-ham.

He was found lying under Crimdon Dene viaduct, on the Durham side of the county boundary with Hartlepool, on Tuesday, May 20.

The last person known to have seen him was Victor Cox, of Spearman Walk, Hartlepool, who was in the car park at Crimdon Dene, at 12.15pm on May 20.

He said a man drove in, got out of a car and slammed the door, before heading off in a hurry as if to walk to the dene. Twenty minutes later, another motorist pulled into the car park and told Mr Spearman that a body had been found at the foot of the viaduct.

The inquest was told Mr Reay, a Magic Circle member who lived and worked in the London area, was visiting his parents in Hartlepool at the time, sorting out car tax and insurance as he hoped to take up a part-time driving job.

His mother, Evelyn Stokes, described her son as "one of the best magicians in the world".

Asked by North Durham coroner Andrew Tweddle if she was aware of any reason why their son would take his life, Mrs Stokes said: "When the police called, we thought he must have had a crash as we never thought he would do anything silly.

"He had so much talent and had so much going for him because he had all these plans.

"We went out at 11.30am and apparently it happened at 12.15pm. I'll never know what triggered it off."

Mr Tweddle said he had to be certain beyond all reasonable doubt that Mr Reay intended to take his life to record a suicide verdict.

"I'm not suggesting anything untoward happened, but I haven't got any evidence that he took his own life," he said.