A car plant worker from Blacon called his son to tell him that he was now the man of the house before taking his own life, an inquest has heard.

David John Williams, of Warwick Road, was found dead on a cycle path between Blacon and Saughall by a police officer on May 24 this year.

The inquest at Chester Magistrates Court on Monday (September 21) heard that the 47-year-old father, who worked at Toyota, had been battling intermittent bouts of anxiety and depression since 2003.

He underwent counselling and was first prescribed anti-depressants in 2012.

In a statement read out to court, his GP Dr Alicia Ojeda said that she saw him on May 5 – just under three weeks before he died – when he told her he was under ‘major pressure at work and home’ and was experiencing panic attacks.

Mr Williams’ wife Rebekah Victoria Lane-Williams told the hearing that they had been experiencing marital problems for around nine years.

She said that on the evening of Friday, May 22, they made the decision to split up, but Mr Williams was ‘angry’.

“We had a discussion over the last couple of weeks about possibly splitting up and it was definite this time because we had been up and down for such a long time,” she said.

“I think it was a relatively mutual decision.”

She recalled that he left the house and took the car at around 7.30pm, but phoned her around 15 minutes later to say he had left the car outside and that the keys and his wallet were in the glove compartment.

Mr Williams rang again and asked to speak to their children.

She said: “He spoke to both of my girls and then he spoke to my son.

“I know that he said to him ‘you are the man of the house now’.

“The week before he had gone missing under similar circumstances and sent text messages that made it sound like he might do something to harm himself but then he came back after two hours.

“He apologised and then it was back to normal.”

She explained that the last text she received from Mr Williams gave her cause for alarm but because of what had happened the week before, she thought he was just ‘taking time out’.

But Mrs Lane-Williams reported him missing the following day.

A pathology report determined that the cause of death was asphyxia caused by hanging.

Recording a verdict that Mr Williams took his own life while the balance of his mind was disturbed, assistant coroner for Cheshire Dr Janet Elizabeth Napier said: “It is extremely sad that this has happened.”