A MAN hanged himself after his girlfriend walked out on him.

An inquest in Middlesbrough heard that Darren Rutherford and girlfriend Gemma Hind argued after he confessed to having a brief relationship with another woman.

The 24-year-old unemployed labourer threatened to hang himself, using a shoe lace, as the two walked home from De Niro's night club, in Middlesbrough, where Gemma had gone looking for her rival.

PC Rachel Thrower said Darren showed his girlfriend the shoe laces he would use and she snatched them from him. But he told her he had more at home, in Manor Street, Newport, Middlesbrough.

Once at the house Gemma "stormed out", Darren calling after her that he would hang himself, if she did not come back - a threat he carried out, with a shoe lace tied round a window latch.

Teesside Coroner Michael Sheffeld recorded a verdict that the heroin addict, who had made two previous attempts at suicide, killed himself in May last year.

Dr Ian Guy, his GP, said in a statement Darren had revealed "fleeting thoughts" of self-harm in October 2001.