A YOUNG Stourport-on-Severn man called a friend to tell him he was going to kill himself then gassed himself in his car, an inquest heard.

Noel Lawrence was found dead on Hartlebury Common on Monday, October 8, the inquest at Stourbridge County Court was told.

Worcestershire coroner Victor Round said 22-year-old Mr Lawrence had recently split up from his girlfriend.

He left his Mostyn Road home, where he lived with his family, late on Sunday, October 7, and as he left, his mother Jill noticed he had a roll of sticky tape in his pocket.

She said she could do with it and could he bring it back, Mr Round told the inquest.

Mr Lawrence said he would do that. He was acting normally, Mr Round added.

The friend Mr Lawrence made the suicide call to later telephoned Mr Lawrence's mum and asked her if she had heard from him.

When she said she had not, he called the police who sent out a search party.

But despite officers from Worcester, Kidderminster and Stourport being deployed, he was found dead the next morning by a passer-by.

He had taped a tube from the exhaust of his car through the car window and left the engine running.

Eventually, he died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Tests showed there were very high concentrations of the gas in his bloodstream.

Mr Round recorded the verdict he took his own life, and said the friend had probably done the right thing by calling the police and not alarming Mrs Lawrence.