A MAN found hanged in a copse near Wickham had a long history of depression, an inquest heard.

Father-of-four, Thomas Graham, was found by a dog walker in the early hours of February 27 in Upperford Copse.

A coroner’s court in Winchester on Wednesday (September 4) was told that Mr Graham, 50, of Exmouth Road, Gosport, suffered with anxiety-depressive disorder but had stopped taking the antidepressants he was first prescribed in 2001.

His widow, Sharon Graham, told the court he was an intelligent man who could “easily dupe” doctors into thinking he was well.

She questioned whether her husband had been given a sufficiently strong prescription.

But coroner for Central Hampshire, Grahame Short, said: “It’s very sad when you see someone close to you who won’t accept the help that is offered to them.

“Thomas Graham deliberately hanged himself using a rope. Alcohol was in his body but not at a level where he would not understand his actions. It’s relevant that he had no drugs in his system, other than paracetamol at therapeutic levels. I think that shows he did not have the beneficial effects of the antidepressants he had been prescribed.”

Mr Short recorded a verdict of suicide.