A NEIGHBOUR worried about an alcoholic friend entered his home to find him hanging from the staircase.

Simon Howe, 43, of Southfield Road, Downley, had battled alcoholism for some years and was recovering from a recent binge, a High Wycombe inquest heard on Tuesday.

Neighbour Nigel Flynn said he always knew when Simon was on a drinking binge: "He would effectively just disappear. The drinking bouts got heavier and the time span got less. This particular time we were concerned because Simon had just gone through a heavy session of drinking to a degree we hadn't known before."

Mr Flynn told the inquest he became concerned on December 15: "There is a cat flap in the kitchen door and the cat flap had been knocked out of the recess and the edge of the door chewed by a dog. I had a feeling at that point that something had happened."

He checked at a local shop and found Mr Howe had not bought drink for three days. He went into Mr Howe's house and found him hanging by what may have been a dog's lead.

Consultant pathologist Dr David Bailey said there was a deep groove round Mr Howe's neck, under his jaw and red and black marks left by a nylon cord. He said there was only a small amount of alcohol in Mr Howe's system when he died: "I could only come to one cause of death and that was one of hanging."

Assistant deputy coroner Tom Grace recorded a verdict of suicide.

Mr Howe's father Dennis said afterwards: "We knew he was a drinker. We couldn't do anything. We weren't entirely surprised."