A MAN who was depressed after a split from his wife in Wales returned to the North-East to take his own life, an inquest was told.

Police searched woods, near South Stanley, County Durham, after Gary Sides' car was found abandoned near the entrance, in October.

However, it was a local 11-year-old boy who found Mr Sides' body hanged from a ligature attached to a tree in the woods.

Pathologist John Zuk confirmed that the 27-year-old factory worker died from asphyxia due to hanging.

The inquest, in Durham, heard that Mr Sides and his wife, Teresa, lived with a young child in Wrexham, north Wales, but separated two months earlier.

Mrs Sides said her husband took it badly and was upset at the situation.

She said he twice previously attempted to take an overdose of pills at home.

Mr Sides' sister, Rosemary Green, of South Moor, Stanley, said her brother came up to see her two weeks before his death and was very upset at the split with his wife.

She said he received treatment from a doctor in Wrexham for depression over the previous two to three years.

PC Karen Winter, the local beat officer, said she was called to check an abandoned vehicle at the entrance to the woods and found a list of telephone numbers on the passenger seat.

She rang the numbers for Mr Sides' mother-in-law and wife, who both expressed surprise that he was in the North-East.

A search took place, involving the police dog section and the police helicopter.

North Durham coroner Andrew Tweddle, recording a verdict of suicide, said given the history, it appeared Mr Sides returned to the region to take his own life.