A RETIRED builder found dead in his Alcester home with gunshot wounds to his head took his own life, an inquest heard.

Peter Lively, 74, was found by his wife Barbara in the garden of their Icknield Row home on April 11 at about 1pm.

A gun, which Mr Lively held a licence for, was found next to his body.

Mrs Lively died a month after her husband's death. Her police statement following his death was read to the court at Leamington Town Hall yesterday.

In the statement, she described how her husband had been in good health, although feeling quite low over the weeks running up to his death.

She said he had worked until he was 72 and that following his retirement, they had to struggled to live off their pensions.

The wife also said she had not noticed anything out of the ordinary on the day of his death and they had both gone shopping in their local supermarket before she left him at home to take the dog for a walk.

On her return, she searched for him in the house before looking in the garden and knew "instantly" he was dead.

Mr Lively did not leave a suicide note.

"He was a private person," she told police. "I had no inclination that he was depressed."

She later added: "He was not the type of person to express himself by writing."

Detective constable Linda Bridges, from Alcester, said there had been no signs of forced entry and she concluded that death was due to self-inflicted fatal injuries, with reasons known only to Mr Lively.

A post mortem revealed that the gun was discharged into the front of his mouth.

And consultant pathologist at Warwick Hospital, Dr Richard Carr, said he found it difficult to perceive a way in which it would be an accident.

Warwickshire coroner Michael Coker said due to these circumstances, he believed Mr Lively decided to take his own life for reasons they would never know

He offered his deepest sympathy to the family and said must have been a great shock to them, especially as they lost Mrs Lively so soon afterwards.

A verdict of suicide was recorded.