A 61-year-old Warminster man committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree near a busy service station following a 10-year history of alcoholism and depression, an inquest heard on Monday.

Richard John Haines, known by his friends and family as Rick, was found dead in a wooded area just 70 yards from the Granada Service Station, off the B3414 Bath Road, at about 12.20pm on Monday, June 9.

His widow Janet Haines, who he had been separated from in the weeks leading up to his death, his son Sean and Mr Haines’ sister Jennifer Collyer were at the inquest at Salisbury Coroner’s Court.

Mrs Haines told the court how she had lost her temper with her late husband and asked him to move out of their home in Poulsen Close after he crashed his work van into a neighbour’s car and was arrested for drink driving several weeks before he died.

Mrs Haines said: “I just thought I can’t put up with this anymore. Deep down he was not a bad person but he was causing terrible pain for himself and everybody else.

“When he got depressed he would have a few drinks. He used to get really down about himself and about the way he looked, but I don’t know why.

“He always seemed quite a confident person really.”

Mr Haines’ body was discovered by Richard Branley, site manager for the Linnick Group, which is close by.

After leaving the family home, Mr Haines stayed with his close friend Brandon O’Riley in Trowbridge for a short while, his sister Mrs Collyer in Foreminster Close, Warminster, The Mason’s Arms pub in East Street, and he was sometimes seen sleeping rough in the town centre.

Mrs Haines said she saw her husband in the town a couple of times and believed he was making a recovery until the Sunday before he died when she found him drunk in the street with a bottle of alcohol - which she smashed.

Mrs Haines said: “Warminster is like a family and everyone knew him, not as the person that was drinking but as this smart chap that would chat to anybody, and they didn’t want him being that person who was drunk in the precinct.

“I was really sad to see him like that and everybody tried to help him as much as they could because deep down he was a good person. It was awful to see him like that.”

Mr Haines’ problems with alcoholism arose after he turned 50 and about four years ago, on two occasions, he was admitted to hospital after slitting his wrists.

His son Sean formerly owned the Southleigh Furniture Company in Crockerton where Mr Haines was working before he and his wife separated.

Coroner David Ridley recorded a verdict of suicide.