A DEPRESSED man hanged himself with a leather belt after taking a cocktail of drink and drugs, an inquest was told.

Anthony Lund, 35, of Phoenix Park, Hemlington, Middlesbrough, had taken 18 sleeping tablets, 24 anti-depressants and drank the equivalent of six pints of beer.

He tied the belt around his neck and wedged the buckle between a door and its frame.

Mr Lund was found on the floor of his flat by neighbour Craig Bruce on May 10.

Mr Bruce had gone to check on the former rigger after not having seen him for a week. He saw his body after looking through the letterbox.

Mr Bruce called an ambulance and the police who smashed a window to enter the property, but Mr Lund had been dead for some time.

The inquest was told that Mr Lund had become increasingly depressed since he separated from his wife, Lesley Ann, in June 2001 after 15 years together. The couple had two children.

Mrs Lund told the Teesside inquest her former husband had threatened to take his life several times and she thought he may have been using illegal drugs. He had been drinking heavily in the months before his death and was undergoing treatment for a depressive disorder.

Assistant Deputy Coroner Anthony Eastwood said: "Anthony was not coping well with the separation and effectively became a changed personality as his behaviour became more erratic.

"We may never know what prompted the circumstances that led to his death but the large amount of tablets he had taken with alcohol could have proved fatal on their own."

He concluded that Mr Lund took his own life