A MARRIED grandfather from Great Sutton hanged himself the night before he was due to start a new job, an inquest heard.
Michael Joseph Duffy, 55, of Mosslands Close, had been looking forward to beginning a new contract as a plasterer and had even made his lunch for work for the next day before he was found dead in his garage by his wife and son on February 27 this year.
The inquest, at Chester and Ellesmere Port Magistrates Court, heard Mr Duffy did occasionally get upset when his dermatological condition rosacea caused his skin to break out but otherwise he had no anxieties, health or financial worries.
He particularly enjoyed golf, fishing and football, and spending time with his grandson.
The inquest also heard that, although he had struggled with ‘excessive alcohol use’ in the past, recent blood tests showed his liver function had improved significantly.
On the evening of February 27, Mr Duffy had picked up his wife Denise, 55, from work and seemed to be in good spirits as he was excited about his new job.
Mrs Duffy said: “He was really quite upbeat and looking forward to it.
“When we got home he had made tea for us and after that he made his sandwiches for the next day and started getting his clothes ready.
“There was nothing out of the ordinary and he seemed fine.”
Mr Duffy then made a phone call to arrange another job for later in the week and went outside for a while, where his wife came looking for him.
She could see a bottle of cider on the ground and when she asked him about it he said he had drank it because he was happy about his new job.
The couple exchanged words as Mrs Duffy said she was ‘annoyed and disappointed’ he had started drinking again, but said it was by no means a shouting row.
She then went upstairs and assumed Mr Duffy had gone back outside.
When he didn’t come back for a while she went to look for him, and found the porch door leading to the back garden was locked, which was unusual.
When Mrs Duffy unlocked it she went outside and called her husband’s name but, although she could see the garage door was open, he did not respond, so she called her son Liam, of Randle Meadow, Great Sutton, and asked him to come round.
He went into the garage and discovered Mr Duffy had died.
A toxicology report indicated no suspicious circumstances. Although urine tests detected alcohol and medication, which Mr Duffy was taking for hypertension, there was no sign of excessive use.
Expressing her condolences to the Duffy family, Janet Napier, deputy coroner for Cheshire, recorded a verdict of 1a asphyxia and 1b hanging.
“I determine that he took his own life while the balance of his mind was disturbed,” she said.
