A MAN who could not cope with stress at work shot himself with an industrial nail gun, an inquest heard.

Design engineer Peter Hodgson, 41, chose to kill himself at timber merchants John B Smith's, in Stockton, Teesside, where he worked.

Searching for her husband, Mr Hodgson's wife Caroline found the first of several suicide notes attached to the gate of the timber works, warning that no one should enter until the police had been called.

PC Andrew Burkinshaw told an inquest in Middlesbrough how he found father-of-two Mr Hodgson lying unconscious in a mill shed, a nail gun lying on his chest.

Mr Hodgson, from Yarm, near Stockton, Teesside, lived for eight months in a "vegetative state", unable to speak or fend for himself.

Mrs Hodgson told the inquest her husband had been stressed at work.

Asked by Teesside Coroner Michael Sheffield how long he had felt he had been under pressure, Mrs Hodgson said: "I would say a couple of months. It was building up. He tended to keep it to himself.''

Mr Hodgson left notes for his wife and his boss.

Mr Sheffield recorded a verdict of suicide.