A man hanged himself after an argument with his partner, an inquest heard yesterday.

Geoffrey Ashton, 34, was found hanging by a rope from a beam in his garage in Oxford Road, Middlesbrough, on November 19 last year.

Two days earlier police had been called to the property following a row between him and his partner, Mina Kumari Debnadh, 38.

Mrs Debnadh told Teesside Coroner's Court they argued after Mr Ashton, a divorced machine operator, received two phone calls from a former work colleague, Michelle Smith.

He left and spent the night on a sofa at Ms Smith's house before returning to the couple's home, where Mrs Debnadh passed him his clothes out of a window.

In a statement, Ms Smith, of Beresford Crescent, said Mr Ashton had made her aware he was having problems with his partner. "There was nothing going on with him. We were just mates," she said.

The next day, Mrs Debnadh's young son found Mr Ashton in the garage, with an empty brandy bottle on the floor beside him.

An ambulance was called, but paramedics said Mr Ashton had been dead for some time.

Coroner Michael Sheffield recorded a verdict of suicide.