A 40-year-old man who struggled with depression and anxiety hanged himself at his home in Colchester, an inquest has found.

Thomas Culpeper died on July 15, with the inquest into his death held earlier this month at Essex Coroner’s Court in Chelmsford.

There, the court heard how Mr Culpeper suffered from mental health problems and had a history of alcohol and drug abuse.

Overseeing the inquest, area coroner for Essex Michelle Brown said paramedics found Mr Culpeper at his home.

Mr Culpeper’s death was confirmed the same day, with a report finding there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.

Ms Brown said: “At the time of his death, he was highly intoxicated; he had poor mental health which declined in 2016.

“It is believed the trigger for this was family issues and he did struggle with alcohol.

“If the family had known [he was struggling] nobody would have gone to bed – he seemed in a good place.”

A post-mortem examination which was conducted on July 20 gave a cause of death as hanging.

Ms Brown continued: “The post-mortem report showed levels of alcohol consistent with intoxication, which would have impaired his judgement.”

As part of the inquest hearing, Ms Brown read out results from a toxicology report which was submitted by a pathologist as part of the post-mortem.

She said: “A toxicology was taken, and the ethanol concentration was 210 micrograms in 110 millilitres of blood; the urine concentration was 271 micrograms, and there was also evidence of cannabis use.”

The coroner said she could not conclude that Mr Culpeper’s death was one of suicide, owing to high levels of intoxication.

Ms Brown said: “I therefore conclude that Thomas Culpeper died on July 15 at an address in Colchester.

“Given the circumstances and high level of intoxication, I was not sure – even on the balance of probabilities – whether he had the capacity to form a judgement given what was said in the post-mortem report.

“So, the cause of death I will give is one of open."