The heartbroken father of a record-breaking IT wizard who died in a Liss park nearly 18 months ago has told an inquest: He just destroyed himself.

Kurt Crosland was just 37 when his body was found at Mill Road Community Garden on April 2, last year, by a dog walker he befriended.

An inquest concluded that the outdoor survival enthusiast – who had lived in a tent off Mill Road for more than a month – died from bleeding within the skull.

An open verdict was recorded by coroner Jason Pegg as the cause of the historic trauma that may have started the bleeding could not be established.

But a blow in a Hampshire hospital was mentioned, with the inquest in Winchester also hearing Mr Crosland had a history of mental health issues and mixing with the wrong crowd.

“His close friends were a problem as they would come into my house and steal – it was usually drug-related,” said his father, Adrian, from Bovington, Dorset, with a pathologist finding no drugs or alcohol in Kurt’s system.

“He stopped all that and wasn’t drinking anymore.

“He was clever and was the youngest person in the UK to get an MCP certificate from Microsoft.”

“But then he got in with this Arabic guy who was doing cocaine and amphetamines with him and they moved into a flat in Bournemouth.

“He had to be rescued and was never the same again – he just destroyed himself.”

The inquest heard that while Mr Crosland was welcome home at any time, Kurt was "into survival" and preferred living in a tent to a house.

Mr Pegg recorded an open verdict as it could not be concluded whether the cause of Mr Crosland's subdural bleed was natural or the consequence of a previous trauma.

He finished by telling Mr Crosland: “You have my sincerest sympathies.”