A father-of-four who suffered with depression was found dead by his wife after going through marriage struggles, an inquest heard today.

Owen Street, 40, hanged himself in the garage at his home in Rennie Close, High Wycombe, and was found by his devastated wife Marie on February 7 this year.

The couple, who had been married for 12 years, had separated at the end of last year and Mrs Street and their children were living with her mother in Lane End at the time of her husband’s death.

Mrs Street told an inquest into the death of her husband at Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court on Wednesday that she had visited their family home at around 9.30am on February 7 to talk to Mr Street about moving back in.

He told her he was going away for a few weeks and she left around 15 minutes later, texting her husband when she had safely returned back to her mum’s.

He replied with a text saying: “I’m so sorry, I will always love you.”

Mrs Street returned to the house later that day, at around 2.50pm, to pick up one of her children’s swimming costumes and eventually found her husband’s body in the garage.

Describing the moment she discovered her husband, she said: “I thought he might be upstairs so I went up there to look for him. When I returned back to the kitchen, I found a note. I went into the garage and he wasn’t breathing, so I didn’t attempt to get him down. I called 999 and waited in the garden until they arrived.”

Mr Street, who worked for the NHS in Aylesbury as a server and systems engineer, had suffered with depression and bouts of anxiety since he was a teenager, his GP said, and had been taking the antidepressant Citalopram.

Anne Davies, assistant coroner, said the levels of Citalopram in Mr Street’s blood were above therapeutic levels, but did not contribute to his death.

She said: “I think the contents of his note make it clear that he really did decide he was going to end his life. He was clearly pre-meditating when he left the note and he must have assumed his wife was going to come back to the house.”

Addressing Mrs Street, who was present at the inquest with a friend, Ms Davies added: “I can only empathise with you. I can’t imagine how hard the last few months have been for you and your family.

“I hope now that the inquest is over, you can now look forward and try to rebuild your life.”

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