A MAN hanged himself while his wife was out shopping, an inquest heard.

Just a couple of hours after Barry Dawson, 62, of Brompton Way, Great Sutton, had topped up his mobile phone with credit, his wife Jean returned home to discover him hanging from the loft hatch at the top of the stairs.

He had appeared ‘completely normal’ when his wife left the house less than an hour earlier on August 18 last year, and had even offered her a lift into town, which she declined.

She left him reading the paper and doing a crossword.

Giving evidence at the inquest at Chester Magistrates Court, Mrs Dawson, 58, said her husband had never shown any signs of being depressed or wanting to harm himself, and the pair were looking forward to going on holiday in the coming weeks.

Mr Dawson had lost his job as a security officer but had recently got another one and though it was ‘not ideal’, his wife said he had seemed ‘pleased’ about it.

A post-mortem examination on Mr Dawson showed no sign of suspicious activity, and though he did suffer from Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, they did not appear in any way to contribute to his death.

Recording a verdict of suicide by hanging, Nicholas Rheinberg, the coroner for Cheshire, said Mr Dawson’s actions had been ‘one of the most sudden, impulsive acts.’

Expressing his condolences to Mrs Dawson, Dr Rheinberg added: “This must have been a terrible, terrible shock for you.”