MYSTERY will always surround the death of a Southampton father found collapsed on his sofa.

Father-of-two Angus Thompson had left what a coroner said bore all the hallmarks of a suicide note, but a pathologist admitted he could find no medical explanation for what had killed him.

The 48-year-old, of Lake Road, Woolston , had been suspended from his job with Haskins while bosses carried out an investigation, but managers became concerned when he failed to turn up for an important meeting, on March 26.

The firm’s group catering manager Carl Hadfield told Southampton Coroner’s Court he went to Mr Thompson’s home, and after failing to get a response eventually managed to peek through a gap in the blinds and spotted him slumped in the living room.

Paramedics forced their way into the property, but Mr Thompson was already dead.

The court heard there was paperwork lying around the room relating to his suspension from work and financial problems, as well as a number of empty beer cans and whisky bottles, plus several used blister packs of painkillers, and a hand-written note to his family.

But pathologist Dr Adrian Bateman said there was no obvious medical cause of death, with no alcohol found in Mr Thompson’s system, and only a low level of paracetamol and ibuprofen.

He said he had been forced to record the cause of death as unascertained.