THE parents of a teenager who jumped off a cliff to his death told an inquest they had no idea anything was wrong.

Derek Robinson chatted to his son on the phone days before returning from holiday to find a suicide note.

At first it was believed 17-year-old Richard had tried to mirror the disappearance of his favourite rock star, Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards, who sparked a mystery when he left his clothes on the

Severn Beach.

A Manic Street Preachers CD with a note containing a line from one of the band's songs was found with a BMX bike, rucksack and CD player at the top of 500ft cliffs at Beachy Head.

A search operation was launched and Richard's body was found on July 17.

At an inquest yesterday, Derek Robinson said Richard showed no signs of unhappiness and had a witty sense of humour.

He said: "We had no idea anything was wrong and then we found his note saying he was going to jump off Beachy Head..

"He was doing well at school and getting good grades. All this came out of the blue."

Richard had just

finished his first year of A-levels in maths, politics and computing at Haywards Heath College and his exam results had been good.

Mr Robinson and his wife Stephanie, of Grove Hill, Burgess Hill, had been on holiday in Wales and had no idea there was a problem until they returned on July 10 to find Richard missing.

The distraught father spoke of his last conversation with his son on the evening of July 8, when they chatted about the Tour de France.

Mr Robinson, a

University of Sussex lecturer, said: "He just seemed his normal self. I had no reason to think there was anything wrong."

Richard had also spoken to his sister Liz, 20, earlier that day and was visited by his older brother Tim, 22, that evening.

The inquest heard they both considered their brother his normal happy self.

Dr Christopher Mason told the inquest Richard had died from multiple injuries caused by a fall.

East Sussex coroner Chris Metcalfe recorded a verdict of suicide.

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