Rossendale dad, 61, hanged himself after everyday life ‘got too much for him’

An inquest heard that Fiaz Ahmed, of Mercer Crescent, Helmshore, was found hanging in Worsley Park, between Blackburn Road and Clough End Road, Haslingden on September 22.

The taxi driver was found by a woman walking her dog at 9.30am.

During the inquest at Burnley Coroner’s Court, Mr Ahmed’s daughter Shamsah Ahmed described her father as a ‘sensitive man’ and said he had suffered from anxiety and anxiety attacks.

Miss Ahmed agreed when coroner Richard Taylor said: “He never tried to harm himself. He was a sensitive person and the strains of working away was too much for him.”

Mr Ahmed had travelled to Pakistan to visit his mother in May and returned for Miss Ahmed’s graduation in July.

The inquest heard he had told his family that his visit would be the last time he would see his mother.

Mr Ahmed, who was on medication for diabetes, left his home at 11.30pm on September 21 and was found the following morning.

Miss Ahmed said: “He was just generally stressed about day-to-day things, nothing that wasn’t tolerable. The financial situation, normal things, but I think he started stressing about them overall.

“He was on medication for that and he was taking the medication.

“A couple of months earlier they moved back from Swindon to Helmshore.

“He would go down and come back every fortnight.”

Due to dwindling business Mr Ahmed would travel to his older son’s home in Swindon for a regular income as a taxi driver.

Coroner Richard Taylor said: “I am sorry you have to go through this. I have little option to agree with what you say. He was a sensitive person who worried about his family, his job and travelling.

“Being away from home could not have been easy for him.

“The strain of normal problems we would experience to cause us difficulty has sadly proved too much for him.”

The coroner gave a verdict that he took his own life.

The post mortem performed by Dr Wahid Salman confirmed the cause of death as hanging.