A WOMAN eating her tea while watching TV heard a noise and turned round to see her husband hanging from the banister.

An inquest heard Derek Francis Ryan died four days later at Royal Blackburn Hospital.

But a pathologist said he may not have died as a result of the hanging, had it not been for the fact that he suffered from high blood pressure which his widow said they did not know about.

Coroner Michael Singleton recorded an open verdict because he could not be sure exactly what was in Mr Ryan's mind at the time he kicked the chair from under his feet.

"To commit this act in the same room in which his wife was watching TV and eating her tea does not suggest someone who is determined to bring about their own demise," said Mr Singleton.

Mrs Ryan said they had been married for 10 years but in July she told him it was all over.

They continued to live under the same roof in Bayley Street, Clayton-le-Moors, while arranging to go their separate ways.

She said a few weeks before the hanging on August 28 her husband talked about hanging himself because he didn't think he had a good life. She said she did not think he would carry out his threat.