ONE of the region’s best loved and most successful businessmen took his own life, a coroner found yesterday.

Gus Robinson MBE, a 62- year-old father and grandfather who employed 150 people in his home town of Hartlepool, was probably suffering from depression, the inquest heard.

Hartlepool coroner Malcolm Donnelly said the evidence, including written testimony from Mr Robinson’s wife, Judith, showed Mr Robinson had probably suffered from depression for a number of years, but had decided not to seek help.

He also said that although his construction company, Gus Robinson Developments, was doing well after adjusting to the economic downturn, he was worried about his responsibilities to his staff.

Mr Donnelly said: “He got help with the company – Daniel, his son, taking more responsibilities – but he keenly felt his own responsibility as people looked to him to provide work to pay their mortgage and rent. He felt the weight of that and he couldn’t run away from it.”

Referring to Mr Robinson’s probable depression, Mr Donnelly said: “He chose not seek help and we have to respect that because that’s the man he was. If he was thinking rationally, he wouldn’t have done this.

“He did a lot of good things, achieved a lot and was recognised for having done so.”

The inquest heard that Mrs Robinson said her husband had gone to bed extremely troubled the night before he died.

She heard him get up at about 5.30am and thought he was going for a glass of water.

When she got out of bed at about 7am, she found him hanging in the garage and called the emergency services.

The couple’s granddaughter was in the house at the time.

Mr Robinson died on the morning of November 15, at his home in the West Park area of Hartlepool.

The coroner, who heard the inquest in Hartlepool County Court, recorded a verdict that Mr Robinson killed himself while the balance of his mind was disturbed.

There was no trace of alcohol or drugs in his body.

The businessman, who was well known as a boxing promoter and a general election candidate for the Conservative Party, left a wife, son Daniel, who has since taken over the company, and three daughters, Lucy, Anna and Adele.

After the inquest, Daniel Robinson said the family agreed with the verdict.