A MAN unhappy with his ex-partner’s new relationship broke into her home and killed himself in her bedroom, a coroner has heard.

Matthew Nimmo hanged himself on his ex-girlfriend’s four-poster bed weeks after he was released from prison, where he had served a sentence for breaching a restraining order that banned him from contacting her.

County Durham coroner Andrew Tweddle said yesterday that it was unclear whether Mr Nimmo intended to kill himself or if he just meant to shock his ex-girlfriend and her partner when they returned home.

Detective Inspector Philip Curtis said Mr Nimmo, 35, of British School Yard, in Darlington, had been released from prison earlier in the year.

On Thursday, May 3, Mr Nimmo went to his ex’s house in Chandos Street, Darlington, where there was an altercation in which he got stabbed.

Mr Curtis said four people were arrested after the incident, and it was still being investigated when, on Tuesday, May 15, Mr Nimmo went back to the house and met his ex.

The police officer said they spent the afternoon talking to each other before they both left, with the ex-partner meeting her boyfriend and going to his mother’s house.

Just before 5pm the next day, the couple returned to their home and found the back door had been smashed open.

They then discovered Mr Nimmo’s body in their bedroom and called the emergency services, Mr Tweddle heard.

Mr Curtis said neighbours were interviewed with one saying he had heard a smash at about 9pm the night before but could not see anything unusual.

He said: “Due to the circumstances, we made a full inquiry into Mr Nimmo’s death but could find nothing suspicious nor anything to suggest a third party had been involved.”

Mr Tweddle said toxicology reports had found he had some alcohol and amphetamines in his system but not enough to impair his judgement.

He said: “I do not know what was going on in his mind. It might have been to shock them, it might have been that he was expecting them to come home sooner than they did or it might have been that he intended to take his own life.”

The coroner sitting in Crook , County Durham, recorded an open verdict.