MYSTERY surrounds the circumstances that prompted a homeless Romanian to jump from a moving pick-up truck, an inquest has heard.

Gheorghe Igna, a 48-year-old homeless man who had been living in a tent on Mudeford Beach, suffered fatal injuries when he jumped from a Toyota truck being driven by drive installer Jimmy Cash.

Coroner Sheriff Payne ruled his death an accident and that, despite an investigation, there was no evidence Mr Igna had been assaulted or forced out of the vehicle.

Mr Cash was initially arrested but will not face charges. He told the inquest he was driving from Poole to Wimborne when he saw Mr Igna and stopped and offered him a job.

He took him to a spare caravan at Dudmoor Farm Road but within the next day or two, Mr Igna had left. On March 31, 2014, Mr Cash went out looking for him, picked him up near Bournemouth Airport and was driving back to Dudmoor Farm Road when Mr Igna jumped from the car.

Reading from his police statement, he said: “He (Gheorghe) grabbed the door handle of the front passenger door, said something in his own language, said ‘No, no’ and jumped out of the vehicle before I had chance to do anything. Just thinking of it now sends a shiver down my spine. He threw his whole body out of the vehicle.”

Mr Cash phoned for an ambulance and stayed with Mr Igna until it arrived but left before the police arrived.

Later that afternoon he went to the police and gave a full statement. Mr Igna was taken to Southampton Hospital but died on April 8. A post-mortem revealed he suffered an ‘overwhelming’ head injury consistent with a heavy fall. Detective Inspector Richard Dixey said: “It would be logistically nigh on impossible to be driving the cab and physically throwing someone out of the cab at the same time.

“That evidence is simply not there. We may speculate but speculation is unhelpful.”

The coroner concluded: “Maybe Mr Igna had some fear of returning, I don’t know. What seems clear is he himself opened the passenger door and he jumped out, no-one was directly responsible for that action on his part.

“All the evidence supports what Mr Cash is saying and has done throughout.”

Victim ‘gentleman with capital G’

Following the inquest, Mr Igna’s friends paid tribute to him, saying he was charming, hard-working and ‘a gentleman with a capital G’.

When it was discovered that Mr Igna was living on the beach, a number of residents offered him paid work and places to stay. Workshop owner Wayne Willetts said: “He was a hard worker and he was always smiling. He saved about £100, which he kept in a coffee jar, and initially talked about going to Canada but then said he wanted to go to Ireland. He was frightened of being mugged and was well aware that being homeless left him vulnerable.”

And Lesley Tindle, who let him stay in her summerhouse, said: “He was the nicest, kindest man. He was open, warm and a gentleman with a capital G.”