A verdict of suicide was recorded today on Daniel James, the 23-year-old rugby player who died at a Swiss euthanasia clinic after being paralysed in an accident.

Geraint Williams, the Worcestershire coroner, said that he had no doubt that Mr James meant to end his own life when he travelled to the Dignitas clinic in Zurich on September 12, accompanied by his parents, Mark and Julie.

The ruling comes a day after Keir Starmer QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said that he did not plan to bring legal action against Mr James's parents, even though there was sufficient evidence that they had helped their son to end his own life, in breach of the 1961 Suicide Act. A prosecution would not be in the public interest, Mr Starmer said.

Mr James's parents, from Sinton Green, Worcester, have told how their son - a promising rugby player who had represented England at under-16s level, as well as the England Universities and England Students teams - became depressed and said he was not prepared to live a "second class existence" after he was paralysed from the chest down in a training accident.

A third year construction engineering student at Loughborough University, he was forced to abandon his studies and was left in severe pain. His consultant had told him that there was little hope his condition would improve.

Mr James’s parents said he had never come to terms with his extreme physical incapacity, and repeatedly said he wanted to die and was determined to do so. He tried to commit suicide several times before persuading his parents to take him to Zurich.

At a 10-minute inquest hearing in Stourport-on-Severn today, Mark James told of the events leading up to his son drinking a dose of lethal medication.

"We arrived on a plane and then we went to a hotel in Switzerland which we had pre-booked. Then people from Dignitas got in touch with us while we were over there," he said.

"We had to take Dan to see a doctor over there on two occasions, and there had to be a break between seeing the doctor. They had to interview Dan to find out that everything was as Dan said it was."

He said the doctor prescribed a poison that would end his life, and the family was directed to go to an apartment in Zurich.

"A lady explained to Dan what was going to happen and asked Dan several times if that was his wish, because she said when he takes this drink, obviously he will die.

"She asked did he want to proceed or have some time to think about what was going to happen to him. He said no. The drink was brought and he took it on his own."

The inquest was told that Mr James’s cause of death was poisoning.

Recording his verdict, Mr Williams said: "Daniel travelled to a clinic in Switzerland where he killed himself. He died on September 12, 2008 in Zurich, Switzerland. In light of information I have heard, I have no doubt of Dan’s intention and therefore record the verdict that Daniel Mark James killed himself. "

Mr Williams said there was nothing a coroner could say to Mr James’s family to ease their pain but he offered his sincere condolences.

The inquest was told that Mr James died peacefully. In a statement read outside the coroner's court by Adrian Harling, the James family's solicitor, Mr James's parents thanked everyone who had supported them since their son's death and said that they were still distressed.

"My clients are not campaigning or fighting the cause of euthanasia or assisted suicide. They purely helped their son carry out his wishes," said Mr Harling.Mr James's death has nonetheless fuelled the debate on assisted suicide, which is likely to be further inflamed by a television documentary being screened tonight in which Craig Ewert, a former university professor with motor neuron disease, will be seen ending his life at the same Dignitas clinic. It will be the first time that an actual death from assisted suicide has been televised in Britain.

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