AN 83-year-old man was found hanged after struggling to cope with his wife’s death.

Leslie Pierpoint became depressed after his wife Irene died of cancer in September 2011.

The former labourer, a great-grandfather of two, was found dead at his home in Station Road, Scholar Green, on January 9 by his daughter Anne Cotterill

Mrs Cotterill told his inquest in Crewe yesterday: “He took my mum’s death very badly. He said when my mum stopped breathing, he stopped living.

“He kept all her belongings and stuck to the same routine she had followed for cleaning and cooking every day. It had to be exactly the same.

“We found a spoon that he had been holding on to, it was the last one she had used.

“He held on to her ashes, he didn’t want to let them go and he would move them around from room to room.” Mrs Cotterill, of Chapel Street, Mow Cop, spent several hours with her father the day before he died.

She said he had become withdrawn and she called in the evening.”He said he was okay,” she said. “That was the last time I spoke to him.

“The next day I went to do his shopping for him and I drove past the windows and saw the hall light was on and his curtains were drawn.

“I thought he must just be getting up. But when I came back an hour and a half later and saw the curtains were still closed I knew something was wrong. I walked through the front door and he was there.”

The inquest heard Mr Pierpoint had been prescribed anti-depressants, in a statement from his GP Dr James Alexander Patterson, of Scholar Green Surgery.

Detective Sergeant Rob Balfour, of Cheshire Police, told the hearing there was no evidence anyone else was involved in Mr Pierpoint’s death.

A post-mortem carried out by Dr Ann Nicol found no trace of alcohol or drugs that would indicate an overdose in Mr Pierpoint’s system.

Mr Pierpoint’s cause of death was given as hanging.

Recording a verdict of suicide, deputy coroner for Cheshire Alan Moore said: “He was grieving for the loss of his wife for more than a year and never got over her death, a wife he was clearly very devoted to.”

If you feel you may want to take your own life, or are concerned about someone else who is, talk to the Samaritans on 08457 909090 or contact your GP.