A 44-year-old man took his own life by hanging himself in the back garden of his mother’s north Watford home, an inquest heard.

Wayne Holmes’ body was discovered at the Ross Crescent property on May 3, Hertfordshire Coroners’ Court was told on Friday.

Police were called to the house at 6.50am on May 3, where they found Mr Holmes’ body in the garden.

The inquest heard how the day before Mr Holmes died he had been talking to his daughter online, during the conversation it was revealed that he was self-harming.

The family "told him he needed help", assistant coroner, Graham Danbury, explained at the inquest.

Mr Danbury, said there were "troubles in his life" from relationships and that Mr Holmes was not in touch with his children as much as he would have liked to have been.

Mr Holmes was described as someone "who was used to drinking".

Post-mortem results showed that Mr Holmes had 175 milligrams per 100 millilitres of ethanol in his system, which is about double the legal driving limit.

Mr Danbury said: "As he (Mr Holmes) was used to drinking, the effect to him would be less to someone who was not a regular drinker. So I don’t think it affected his judgement."

Mr Danbury added: "He got to the point where he couldn’t see a way out," adding, "What he did was what he intended to do."

Addressing Mr Holmes’ family at the inquest, Mr Danbury said: "In respect to your brother, Wayne, I would record a verdict that he took his own life."

The cause of death was listed as asphyxiation.