Mark Dickinson seldom experienced happiness in his short life, an inquest heard.

A strict upbringing by a mother who forbade him from having girlfriends left him sexually immature and uneasy around women.

After years of living alone the 34-year-old, of Ratcliffe Street, York, found love.

But the York inquest was told that just six weeks into an unhappy marriage, he killed himself.

His body was found by friends in the corner of his living room, his head on a pillow.

He had electrocuted himself by wiring his chest to the mains.

The tragedy of Mr Dickinson's life unfolded yesterday at his inquest.

A former Joseph Rowntree School pupil and employee at Barnitts hardware store, Mr Dickinson was a keen cyclist and record collector and a regular at the Tap and Spile pub.

He met his wife-to-be Joyce - his first ever relationship - and soon moved in with her, but the coroner, Jonathan Leach, heard it was a stormy relationship and he again found himself living alone.

A few months later he moved back in with her and they decided to marry. But friends were aware there were problems in the relationship, and he confided in them when he left his wife just weeks into the marriage.

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"He spoke to his colleagues as he was upset about his domestic disharmony," coroner's officer George Rawling told the inquest.

"But he appeared calm and in control of his emotions, and seemed in good spirits, a short time before his death."

On May 8, Mr Dickinson did not appear for work and his colleagues at Barnitts, where he had worked for 18 years, became concerned.

They went to his Ratcliffe Street house where they saw his body through the window.

Mr Rawling said Mr Dickinson's friends and colleagues had told him that he had never had happiness in his life.

"He told one friend that if he could get six months worth of happiness from his marriage then it would be more than he had had in his entire life," Mr Rawling said.

"His actions came as a shock to his friends and were totally out of character."

Mr Leach said the cause of death was cardiac arrest caused by an electric shock.

He recorded a verdict of suicide.