FARMERS' leaders today warned of the horrendous fall out from foot and mouth after a coroner revealed the disease may have prompted a dairyman to take his own life.

Gisburn farmer Richard Beckerton, 50, one of the few in the village whose animals escaped the epidemic, was found hanging in his feed shed by a member of his family.

An inquest heard that father-of-two Mr Beckerton and his family had come through the darkest moments of farming during the crisis and his widow Christine said there was "light at the end of the tunnel."

But coroner Michael Singleton, who recorded a verdict that Mr Beckerton killed himself, said: "While we will never know the cause there will no doubt be concerns expressed that the foot and mouth outbreak and the manner in which it was being controlled and dealt with may have had a significant part to play in this man's demise."

After the hearing, in Blackburn, a spokesman for the National Farmers' Union said: "Sadly, we do not know what caused Mr Beckerton to take the action he did.

"The overall problems in the area are quite horrendous as a result of the restrictions put in place to control the foot and mouth epidemic.

"Mr Beckerton's farm was not affected by the disease, but it is those people still left with livestock who are finding it increasingly difficult because of these restrictions."

He added: "Surveillance is being carried out to move infected areas back so that restrictions can be lifted, but there are lots of farms which still have stock and cannot move them from the highlands to lowlands as the weather changes.

"The whole situation is causing severe welfare problems." A spokesperson for DEFRA, Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Areas, said it would not be appropriate to comment at this stage, given the "regretful circumstances" of Mr Beckerton's death.

Mrs Beckerton told the inquest that most of the farms in the Gisburn area had been hit by foot and mouth but Leewarden Farm, Gisburn Road, where they had farmed since 1984 had escaped.

"The boys didn't go to school for four weeks, I didn't go to work for two weeks and Richard didn't leave the farm for six weeks," said Mrs Beckerton.

"On the surface Richard seemed to be dealing with it as well as the rest of us."

She said that by August they had gone beyond the possibility of getting foot and mouth.

"At one stage, when Gisburn was a hot spot, we just accepted that it would be us next," said Mrs Beckerton. "Trying to farm under these circumstances was difficult and the financial side was not easy."

A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death to be asphyxia due to hanging.