A MAN hanged himself after neighbours from hell' made his life a misery.

John Thomas, aged 37, who lived in Malvern, was found hanging from a gate by a lane close to his parents' home in Mathon, near Cradley, Herefordshire, in September last year. Mr Thomas, who lived in Shaw Walk, had been staying with his parents in Mathon for two days before his death after on-going rows with his neighbours had left him feeling unsafe at home. Rachel Seabourne described at an inquest in Hereford how her partner of 11 years became extremely worried, installed extra locks and CCTV and even slept in the car to deter trouble makers. He also lost weight, slept badly and was desperate to move, but Ms Seabourne felt there was no point in their moving if the housing association could evict the neighbours.

She said Mr Thomas had become increasingly anxious and that they had been living next to the neighbours from hell.' She said their neighbours'children were "left to their own devices," and were throwing stones, damaging property, and threatening to hit her son with a hammer.

Despite making several complaints to a housing association, the problems escalated and Mr Thomas was verbally assaulted by the neighbours and two other men.

Days before his death, he was sent home from work and she found him crying and shaking and took him to his parents' house.

She said: "He kept saying I can hear their feet, they are coming to find me'. We went for a walk up the lane and he was just so disturbed, crying and shaking and saying that he wanted to be with me but that he couldn't cope."

She booked the next available appointment with his doctor, which was 48 hours later, and left him at his parents' house. She spoke to him the next day to arrange when to take him to the appointment but the following morning he was found dead by his parents.

His father Ronald Thomas, told Hereford deputy coroner Mark Bricknell that he had urged his son to get help and said his actions were the result of "a series of things built up in his mind and he was looking for a way out".

Susan Heales, of Elgar Housing, said the Thomas family's contract was with the Birmingham Friendship Housing Association and explained the first she knew about the neighbours was when the Thomas family contacted them directly.

She said the neighbours were tenants of Elgar Housing and they had received a number of complaints about them. She said eviction proceedings were under way and the case is currently going through the courts.

Consultant pathologist Dr Mark Hayes, who carried out the post mortem, said that Mr Thomas died as a result of asphyxiation from hanging.

Mr Bricknell said: "There is no option to me but to find that he took his own life.

"His behaviour was accentuated by recent difficulties experienced with his neighbours and relevant agencies need to act accordingly in ways that are necessary."

Speaking after the inquest, neighbour Linda Pritchard, aged 44, said: "He was a very nice guy. It's sad that it's happened. He was a lovely man, polite and a good father to his two children."

Pauline Golding, aged 54, who lived opposite, and works in Past and Present in Fir Tree Walk, said: "He came over a couple of times with Rachel to borrow electrical stuff. I could not find a bad comment to say about him. He was a good dad."