A RESEARCH chemist who concealed his gambling debts from his wife, asphyxiated himself at work, an inquest heard.

A jury at Teesside Coroner's Court was told yesterday that Ian Robert Moran, 35, of Studley Road, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, died on April 11 last year after inhaling nitrogen.

The jury returned a verdict of suicide.

Mr Moran's colleague, Patricia Ellis, also a chemist at ICI Wilton, east Cleveland, said that day, she had lunch with him and other colleagues in the company canteen before attending a union meeting led by Mr Moran, a union representative.

Mr Moran asked her for a lift home and she arranged to telephone him when she was ready to leave, but when she did so, at about 4.20pm, there was no reply.

When she went to his laboratory to investigate, she found Mr Moran lying on the floor of a nearby workroom, with a plastic bag over his head and a gas pipe trailing from it.

Ms Ellis said she pulled the bag off Mr Moran and ran to fetch help, but efforts to revive him failed.

Ms Ellis said: "Ian had said to myself and other colleagues that he was under a lot of financial stress.

"He was always very laid back, very happy, but there was a couple of occasions in the preceding weeks when he was slightly aggressive."

Dr Patrick Corbett, a GP at the Village Medical Centre, in Linthorpe, said Mr Moran had visited him in March last year complaining of depression.

He said Mr Moran, who gambled at casinos, had previously tried to asphyxiate himself and had taken an overdose of paracetamol.

Mr Moran's wife, Ann, said his mood appeared normal on the day he died, playing with his son, Alexander, before leaving for work. She said she had spoken to her husband on the telephone several times that day, the latest at 3pm.

"Since Ian's death, I have come to realise that he gambled a great deal - more than I realised," she said.

"When the doctor said he had made two precious attempts to harm himself, I was completely shocked."