A MECHANIC tormented by the suicide of his son and plagued by depression took his own life, an inquest in York heard.

Kenneth Green was unable to cope with the family tragedy as he battled “mumbling voices” in his head which he said had told him he “had to die”.

It led to the 63-year-old, from Tang Hall, running a hosepipe into his Honda car from the exhaust on Green Gales Lane, between Wheldrake and Elvington, on July 7 last year, with police finding the vehicle parked by a field in the early hours of the morning.

A note left by his body said he wanted to be with his son, Robert, who had hanged himself in December 2007 shortly after Mr Green had made a previous attempt on his own life.

The inquest heard a statement from his daughter, Paula Meehan, who said: “He was fit and healthy until, in 2007, he broke down and tried to gas himself in his car, where he was found by Robert.

“He was in Bootham Park Hospital for a time, where he was treated for depression and psychotic behaviour as he was hearing things. In 2007, Robert died and my father never really recovered from this – he told me he wanted to be with him.”

She said she had gone shopping with him the day before he died but he refused to put the bags in the boot of his car, saying: “Looking back, I’m sure he had some of the equipment he was going to use in there.”

Dr Robert Adams, a consultant psychologist at Bootham Park who treated Mr Green, told the inquest: “He had a delusional belief he had done something wrong – which he had not done – and certainly had a psychotic illness.

“He told me he heard mumbling voices, and later said they were telling him they were going to kill him for what he had done and he thought he had to die.”

However, he said Mr Green’s condition had improved “significantly” and that when he was discharged, he was “back to his normal self”. After his son’s death, he was last seen at the hospital in April last year.

Coroner Donald Coverdale recorded a verdict of suicide, with the cause of death being carbon monoxide poisoning.