AN alleged sex attack victim tortured by memories of his ordeal was killed when he blundered into the path of a train.

Police had to decode bizarre messages daubed on the body of Worcester musician Joseph Jeffery after a train driver spotted him lying by railway tracks in March, an inquest was told yesterday.

The telesales worker had nightmares about the attack. He said he had been bundled into a car by two men and two women in Birmingham in December 1998. He told his girlfriend Gemma Kelly about it when she spotted scars on his body.

"He was very distressed," she told the inquest at Tewkesbury. "But he found it very difficult to talk about. He said he lived with his own guilt - even though these people attacked him.

"He went to the police but didn't make a statement because he was too shaken up."

Then, this January, the 20-year-old, who had consulted his GP about depression and money worries, reported the sex attack to Worcester police, but he was drunk and "kept changing his story", the inquest heard. Officers decided not to investigate.

Earlier that day, he had been drunk in a city pub, handing out cash to drinkers. When he had gone, the landlord found his ID cards and more money dumped in one of the toilets.

"We received a text message from Joseph," his father Paul, of Laugherne Road, St John's, said in a statement. "It said, 'I've sold my soul to the devil. When I go to hell I will see you there. I love you Mum and Dad and Holly'."

The inquest was told Joseph had hit his head and could not remember sending this message, or a similar one to Gemma, and had to be hypnotised to recall the incident.

But by Friday, March 31, he appeared "normal and happy", and went drinking with a colleague after work. He even left a note on his desk to remind himself to check a contract on the Monday.

Hours later he was killed by a train near Cheltenham station. His shoes were found by the track.

A jury deliberated for three-and-a-half hours before returning a verdict of accidental death.