Furniture restorer Barry Browning took his own life after years battling with depression, an inquest in Trowbridge decided on Tuesday.

Mr Browning, 59, was found hanging in the workshop behind his home in Littleton Panell, near Devizes, by his wife, Angela, on the evening of June 15 this year.

Assistant deputy coroner Clare Balysz, sitting at Trowbridge Town Hall, heard from Mrs Browning that her husband had had problems with depression for some years and was on medication for it.

He managed the condition well, but it all came to a head that evening when he received a final demand for a bill that should have been paid by the tenants of the couple’s other property.

Mrs Browning told the inquest: “He completely flipped out and I couldn’t understand why he was getting so angry. But I had learned that unless you left him alone it would just escalate.”

While Mr Browning went out to his workshop to finish painting an item of furniture, Mrs Browning went upstairs for a bath. When she came down there was still no sign of Mr Browning so she went out to the workshop in the garage.

She said: “I opened the garage door and because furniture was in the way I couldn’t see him at first. Then I saw him hanging. I remember screaming and trying to lift him down but he was too heavy.”

The emergency services were called but paramedics were unable to resuscitate him and he was certified dead at 11.49pm.

Ms Balysz heard that Mr Browning had not been seen by a GP for his depression for at least three years and he played down his condition. He had had problems with alcohol abuse but he had agreed with his wife that he would only drink at weekends.

A toxicology report said that there were 247 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood in his system, four times the legal limit for driving.

Following Mr Browning’s death, Mrs Browning had heard from a friend that, during a golfing trip three years previously, Mr Browning had told the friend that he didn’t want to live any more.

“This was complete news to me,” said Mrs Browning.