A HUSBAND who hanged himself in his house had been having marriage difficulties, an inquest heard.

And his wife told the coroner that one of his close friends -- with whom he had grown up -- had hanged himself last year.

William Riddle, 31, of Joseph Street, Barrowford, was pronounced dead by paramedics on May 27 despite attempts to resuscitate him by his wife Nicola and her friend Zoe Lowley.

He was found hanging at the top of the staircase from a beam in the loft. His wife held him up while her friend cut him down with a kitchen knife.

Dr Zafar Qureshi gave the cause of death as hanging.

Mrs Riddle told East Lancashire coroner David Smith that she and her husband had been experiencing marriage problems and that they were making arrangements for Mr Riddle to move out.

On the night of his death, Mr Riddle and his nephew Graham Brown had gone to watch football and play pool in the Victoria Hotel, Barrowford.

Mrs Riddle said she decided to go to the pub with her friend, Zoe, as her mother was looking after her daughter, but when she arrived she said her husband became paranoid he had done something wrong.

He walked out of the pub saying he wasn't coming back and made two phone calls to his wife to say goodbye.

She said: "I thought he was telling me he was going for good and taking his stuff to move out."

When Mrs Riddle returned home at 7.30pm, there was loud music playing and she found her husband hanging.

Mr Smith recorded an open verdict. He said: "It is difficult to know what his intentions were.

"He knew that she would be home soon and had let her know twice that he was at home so maybe it was an attempt to get her back home to let her see what he had in mind."