A SELF-EMPLOYED Bangor-on-Dee tree surgeon hanged himself after becoming depressed, a Wrexham inquest heard.

Matthew Fitton, 27, of Friars Court, took his own life on September 8 last year after complaining to doctors of feeling depressed after splitting from his girlfriend and financial pressures.

The inquest heard that on the day of his death Mr Fitton had been feeling low and, according to his father, Geoffrey Fitton, “didn’t seem right”.

“I was concerned about him,” said his mother Pauline Fitton. “For months he was so low, he wouldn’t speak to friends or answer his phone, he wasn’t going to work much, where as he used to work very long hours.”

Matthew worked alongside his parents at the Woodstock Nursery in Long Lane, Whitchurch.

On September 8, Mr Fitton told his parents he would prefer to rest in the car between jobs while they went for a coffee. On their return they found him hanging from a nearby tree, 40ft from the ground.

“As a tree surgeon he was very good at climbing trees,” said Geoffrey Fitton. “He wouldn’t have needed any equipment to get up there.”

North East Wales coroner John Gittins said: “There can be no conclusion other than he took his own life.

“I offer my sincere condolences to his family, it is always hard to deal with the death of a young person.”

Verdict: Suicide.