AN accountant, depressed about not having a job, committed suicide by putting a shotgun to his head and pulling the trigger.

An inquest on Wednesday heard how David Coppock, 48, of Clare Road, Prestwood, had been made redundant in September last year because of cut-backs at a firm where he had worked for three-and-a-half years.

Mr Coppock had done some locum work but was looking for permanent work when he took a phone call on the morning of March 9, which informed him that a potential job had gone to somebody else.

A little later he drove his car to Hangings Lane, Prestwood, where he took his own life, the High Wycombe inquest heard.

Mr Coppock was found by Diane Beagley who had been out walking her Alsatian puppy at around 12.15pm.

She said: "I saw a dark, green car parked in a gateway on my left.

"As I got closer, I could see a person slumped in the driving seat."

Ms Beagley saw Mr Coppock was dead and went back to her house, and rang the police before returning to the car to await their arrival.

Consultant pathologist Yoon Chia told the inquest that Mr Coppock had died of a massive injury, caused by a shotgun wound to the head.

Tests revealed Mr Coppock had been drinking and was more than twice over the drink-drive limit.

Mr Coppock's wife, Angela, 46, said her husband had been depressed though it had not appeared as such at first.

She said: "He had been depressed but I hadn't put it down to depression. He liked to feel he was the breadwinner."

Coroner Richard Hulett said: "The phone call for him was probably a final straw. Losing a job is not the end of the world, though for some people it seems so."

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