Homesick man in motorway death plunge

Plasterer Shaun Cocking, 44, twice tried to settle into life in Queensland with his family, but the dream turned into a nightmare and he finally returned home alone to Britain.

He died instantly when he plunged 30ft from a bridge over the M18 into traffic and was hit by both a truck and a van.

Friends revealed that Mr Cocking had been depressed after flying back to Swinton, near Rotherham, leaving his wife Lisa and their daughters Victoria and Joanne at their home near Brisbane.

The future looked bright when the family decided to emigrate in 1998 to the Gold Coast in Queensland for a new life in the sun.

Together with his wife, a nurse, Mr Cocking moved his young family from South Yorkshire to Edmonton, near Cairns, after falling in love with the country while on holiday.

Two years later the family then moved south to Brisbane, so Mr Cocking could earn more money plastering.

But after the death of his mother he became homesick and brought his family home in June 2002.

Back in Swinton, Mrs Cocking penned a book about the family’s journey, which explored the psychological effects of emigration.

Using her own diary entries she took two-and-a-half years to write My Diary Our Lives. The book later went on sale in branches of Waterstones.

In 2007 Mrs Cocking talked about her book, saying: “It details the highs and lows that we went through when we moved over there.

“You often see on travel programmes how fantastic it is to move abroad, but they don’t really go into the psychological effects it has on you, moving away to another country. But I hope this book shows the rollercoasters that you can go on.”

Upon returning home, Mr Cocking ran his own plastering business but, in 2008, it was in the hands of liquidators.

Keen to return to Australia, he moved the family back to Queensland.

But by October 2010 Mr Cocking revealed he could not settle into Australian life and decided to come home, leaving his family behind.

After returning home last year, Mr Cocking stayed with his sister Tracy Windle.

Writing on Facebook on October 14 last year he said: “I am returning back to Yorkshire tomorrow as I can’t settle here.

“My wife and kids are staying here on the Gold Coast but I will be returning.”

Friends and family tried to counsel Mr Cocking against leaving in haste, with one advising: “Don’t go making rash decisions.”

However, he returned home and died shortly before 7am last Friday, June 3, after falling from the motorway bridge at Cockhill Lane, Old Edlington.

Following his death, one friend said: “He had sounded very depressed. He missed his wife and daughters in Australia.”

An inquest into Mr Cocking’s death is set to be opened in Doncaster. South Yorkshire Police are also appealing for anyone who saw him on the bridge to contact them.