A YOUNG mum who went upstairs to bath her child found her partner hanging from a wardrobe.

But coroner Michael Singleton said he could not be sure that Steven William Clarke had intended to take his own life and that his actions had not been a cry for help that went tragically wrong.

The inquest heard that Mr Clarke, of Rothesay Road, Blackburn, and his partner Andrea Gilmour had lived together for four years and were planning to marry.

She detailed previous incidents were Mr Clarke had slashed his wrists and claimed to have taken an overdose but she did not think they were serious attempts.

She said that in October 2006 he began to act "a bit strangely" and she suspected he was drinking or using drugs.

On November 28 there was an argument about an unpaid bill and Mr Clarke crushed paracetamol tablets into a glass and added orange juice before going upstairs.

Miss Gilmour said she expected him to lie down until he had calmed down, something he had done in the past but when she went up 15 minutes later to run the bath for her child she found Mr Clarke hanging.

Mr Clarke received immediate attention from Miss Gilmour's sister who was a nurse and lived just a few doors away, before being taken to hospital.

He spent nine weeks in hospital without regaining consciousness until his death on January 30.

Mr Singleton said he could not be satisfied so as to be sure that Mr Clarke had intended to take his own life.

The medical cause of death was given as broncho-pneumonia due to hypoxic brain injury caused by hanging and paracetamol overdose.