A 37-YEAR-OLD dad became depressed after leaving his wife for another woman and hanged himself, an inquest heard.

The hearing was told that Gwyn Thomas had been suffering from depression after splitting from his wife of 15 years and setting up home with his girlfriend.

And his mood had worsened following the death of his father in August, just two weeks after they had begun to talk to each other again. Mr Thomas had fallen out with his father for six years after Mr Thomas snr stabbed his estranged wife to death.

The inquest heard that Gwyn Thomas had told his estranged wife Wendy, his new partner Kirsty Davies, his brother Stephen, and his doctor, that he intended to take his own life.

But his other brother, Adrian Thomas, repeatedly questioned witnesses at the Blackburn inquest, suggesting their evidence was inaccurate and incompete. And when the coroner recorded a verdict that Gwyn Thomas had killed himself, he questioned the verdict.

The hearing was told that Mrs Thomas found her husband hanging from a dog lead which had been draped over the bedroom door at her home in Darwen on September 15. She had left him with their daughters, who had gone to school, while she went for a job interview in Bury.

She told the inquest that she had discovered her husband had been having an affair for four years, but had still been "heartbroken" when he left her and moved into a flat in Pankhurst Close, Blackburn, with Miss Davies.

She said that more or less straight away he said he had made a mistake and wanted to come back, but she said he couldn't come back "in the blink of an eye".

In July he was diagnosed clinically depressed and eventually signed off from his work as a surveyor with Blackburn with Darwen Council. She said that in August she received a text message from her husband, saying: "Sorry Wendy, I think I have done it at last."

She raced round to his apartment, where Mrs Thomas and her 11-year-old daughter were confronted by Mr Thomas with blood pouring from cuts on his wrists.

Miss Davies said: "When he left on the morning of his death he kissed me goodbye and I had no reason to think there was anything wrong."

Coroner Michael Singleton said he was satisfied Mr Thomas intended to bring about his own demise.

In 1998 Mr Thomas' father, Ronald James Thomas, 57, admitted stabbing his estranged wife to death. The couple had been married for 30 years, but had been separated for a year when he killed her in February 1998. Preston Crown Court heard how Mr Thomas told his wife, Eileen, that he loved her before stabbing her 11 times at her home in Redearth Street, Darwen.

He was put on probation for three years, but had already been in custody for one year and two months on remand.