A LANCE-corporal stationed in Germany went out drinking with friends hours before being found hanging with a bathrobe cord around his neck.

Michael Chapman's body was discovered attached to a rail on the wall of the drying room at the Queen's Royal Hussars base in Sennelager, north-western Germany, on Friday, February 28, an inquest has heard.

Yesterday's inquest at Stourport-on-Severn into the death of the 23-year-old, whose family live in Stourport, heard how he had returned to the Athlone Barracks at 4am.

"Later in the morning, his room was checked because he hadn't appeared, and there was a note saying where his body could be found," said Worcestershire coroner Victor Round.

"He was in the drying room with the cord of a bathrobe around his neck. A number of notes were subsequently found."

A post-mortem revealed Mr Chapman died of hanging and the inquest was adjourned to a date to be fixed.