A MAN from Eastleigh was found by his neighbour after he hanged himself at his caravan home, an inquest heard.

Helen Kennedy found her neighbour, 82-year-old Dennis Moody, at their park home site in Bishopstoke Lane in Brambridge, after she realised his curtains hadn't been opened that morning.

The senior coroner for central Hampshire, Grahame Short, heard how Ms Kennedy would collect Mr Moody's paper for him every morning but quickly called the police after she discovered he was dead.

Mr Moody, who had refused medical treatment for skin cancer which he'd been living with for some 14 years, had become withdrawn following his retirement, the court heard.

His sister, Wendy Percey, said: “He'd divorced some years before and lived quite a lonely, quiet life. He had a really exciting life before that I think, so it was a bit of a shock coming back to England.

“He was a carpenter by trade and he was always making things and used to go out for drives and walking a lot. He just seemed to think life was quite depressing and didn't find a lot to be happy about.”

Mr Short was also told how the boiler of Mr Moody - who had a history of asthma - had broken a number of months before and, though financially healthy, he had refused to have it fixed.

Recording a verdict of suicide, Mr Short said: “It's clear that Dennis lived alone in a mobile home in Brambridge and my impression was he was an independent-minded man. He didn't want his cancer treated and I believe that may have been a factor in his thinking. Clearly he was struggling increasingly with his physical health.

“He lived an interesting life but returned to this country and become very isolated. He did want to live any longer and planned his death very carefully.”