TROUBLED artist Jonathan Steer was found hanged in a Romanian orphanage he had helped brighten up, an inquest was told yesterday.

Mr Steer, the 28-year-old son of clergywoman Gillian Steer, Dean's verger at Ripon Cathedral, in North Yorkshire, had gone missing minutes before leaving the isolated village of Iasi, near Hirlau, to go to the airport.

Retired teacher John Appleton, who was on the mercy mission of churchgoers from the Harrogate area, told the town's coroner Geoff Fell how he found Mr Steer in a shower block but attempts to resuscitate him had failed.

Mr Fell, who recorded a suicide verdict, read a statement from Mr Steer's mother outlining his periods of depression dating back to 1996.

Since leaving Manchester University with a fine art degree, he had worked for two years in a Ripon factory, spent 18 months living in Australia, where he had attempted to cut his wrists, stayed for a time in Dublin, then joined his father on the Isle of Wight.

He decided to accompany his girlfriend and her family on the trip to Romania in August 2000. During the stay he decorated the walls of the orphanage with comic-book figures.

Mr Appleton said Mr Steer was depressed about the way the relationship with his girlfriend was going, to the extent that at one stage he decided to return home alone.