TROUBLED company director Gregory Webb locked himself in his garage and gassed himself hours after a meeting with his bank manager.

The 47-year-old, from Kempsey, near Worcester, had been described as "emotionally fragile" by his business colleagues.

And his company was not doing well, Worcestershire Coroner Victor Round told an inquest in Stourbridge.

He said Mr Webb's girlfriend Rowena Hesketh had left their house in Old Road South at 9.30am on Monday, April 30.

She returned later that afternoon to find Mr Webb slumped by his car's exhaust pipe, dead.

"The engine of the car was running in the garage," Mr Round told yesterday's inquest.

"He was lying on a blanket at the back of the car, near the exhaust pipe."

Tests carried out by Worcestershire pathologist Dr Paul Dunn revealed Mr Webb had died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

No suicide note was ever found.

Mr Round revealed the dead man had a history of depression.

"He was known to have suffered and had attempted to take his own life in the past," he added.

A statement by Det Insp John Wallis, of Worcester CID, revealed Mr Webb had scheduled a meeting with his bank manager for the afternoon of April 30.

"He had his own business that was not thought to be doing well," the statement read.

"In fact, friends have informed the police that there was a meeting with the bank manager at 2pm on the day of his death - about which he had not told Rowena.

"Business contacts they spoke to described Mr Webb as fragile, emotionally."

Mr Webb took his own life, Mr Round concluded.