A SOUTHAMPTON man suffering from depression killed himself shortly after botching a DIY job by cutting a skirting board too short, an inquest heard.

Gerald Nutbeen, 62, took a fatal overdose of painkillers and alcohol.

Mr Nutbeen, a father of five, of Burghclere Road, Weston, had been suffering from depression for around 15 years and minor setbacks would upset him.

His son Dale told the inquest: “I knew he was depressed but he kept it to himself. He wouldn’t want us to worry.

"Cutting the skirting board short, that sort of thing got him down. He was angry with himself. It would have affected him and played on his mind.”

His wife of 43 years, Tina, said: “His depression was getting worse. Little things used to get to him. His self-esteem and his confidence was not good.

“He used to breed budgies and if one died it would take him days and days to get over it. If a fish died in the pond it would depress him.”

On the evening of his death Mr Nutbeen and his wife had had a row and she had spent the night at her daughter’s house nearby.

He took the overdose on a cold February evening whilst sitting at the bottom of his garden wrapped in a blanket, the court was told.

PC Matthew Jones, who was called to the scene the following day and confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances, said: “He looked like he was asleep. He looked very peaceful.”

Mr Nutbeen, an unemployed gardener, had left post-it notes in the kitchen explaining what he was going to do.

Returning a verdict of suicide, the assistant coroner Simon Burge said: “He had a close relationship with his wife, with Dale and his four other children.

"The post-it notes make it clear that at the moment they were written he wanted to die.

“It seems the trigger was simply a DIY that went wrong.

"That is something most of us can relate to, it is very, very frustrating.

“I have heard of his low self-esteem and lost confidence.

"He was fed up with life and felt useless.

"It is not difficult to see how that could push someone close to the edge.

“With a few drinks inside him he was pushed to the edge.

“There is no-one else to blame for that. There was no way of knowing what he was going to do.

"He hadn’t planned it. It is important the record shows that this gentleman had a loving and supportive family.”