A LAW student had to be cut down by his father and brother after hanging himself from a pagoda in the family's garden.

Harjit Hunjan, of Dukes Kiln Drive, Gerrards Cross, was discovered in the evening by his brother Harjinder who had been searching for the 20-year-old after he failed to return home on March 21.

Harjinder told the inquest how he and his father had travelled as far as a temple in Slough looking for Harjit. When they got home Harjinder said he checked the back garden.

He added "I instantly saw my brother hanging by a rope by his neck. My father began crying uncontrollably.

"I ran back to the house and called for an ambulance. I got a knife from the kitchen and my father and I took my brother's weight and cut him down.

"He felt ice cold, as if he had been outside for a while."

Harjinder confirmed that his brother had split up with his girlfriend the day before he was found hanging.

Dr Yoon Chia, consultant pathologist for South Bucks NHS Trust, who carried out the post-mortem on Harjit, said he had been in good physical health and the cause of death was asphyxia from hanging.

Coroner Richard Hulett said: "There is a background to a relationship that had come to an end before this. Whether there is a connection, I'm not going to speculate.

"He was hanging from a rope and there was a chair there and he got himself in this way. Why a young man of 20, studying law with everything to live for should do such a thing continues to be a mystery to me."

Mr Hulett recorded a verdict that Harjit took his own life.