A 56-year-old patient on a mental health ward at Royal Blackburn Hospital hanged himself at a time when staff thought he was getting better.

An inquest heard that in the two weeks prior to his death David Bennett, a voluntary patient, had made excellent progress and was due to start spending time at home.

But the day before the second anniversary of the end of his 20-year marriage and the death of his aunty he was found hanged.

Doctors and nurses told the inquest Mr Bennett was excited about the prospect of going home but had agreed with staff that it should be a staggered process which would be closely monitored.

And they told the inquest how they had been shocked when he hanged himself.

In a statement read to the inquest his mother, Edna Bennett, said her son had struggled with depression for over two years. She identified three factors, the loss of his job as an alarm fitter, the breakdown of his marriage and the death of his aunty to whom he was very close.

She visited her son two days before his death and he was excited to be going home. She invited him for tea on the Sunday but she never spoke to him again.

“The news came as a shock because he was upbeat when I last saw him,” she added.

The inquest heard Mr Bennett, of Belgrave Close, Witton, Blackburn, had been admitted to hospital as a voluntary patient in December. There had been several occasions when he talked about suicide and he had been on a high level of observation by staff.

A change in medication seemed to bring about an improvement and by the middle of March staff were noticing a marked change.

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Paul Reid said the improvement had been dramatic and Mr Bennett’s observations had been reduced to “general” which could have been as little as once every shift.

“He thanked me for helping him get better, agreed his medication was working and said that he would carry on taking it,” said Dr Reid. “He wanted to go home but agreed it would be better if it was a gradual process.”

The medical cause of death was given as hanging and coroner Michael Singleton recorded a verdict that Mr Bennett killed himself.