A depressed forklift truck driver who worked at Bicester Military Depot hanged himself from the rafters of his warehouse.

Peter Court, 60, of Aldergate Road, Bicester, had fought depression for more than a decade, but his wife told Oxford Coroner's Court on Wedneday, April 21, she knew something was wrong in the weeks before his death when he started taking an interest in DIY.

Shirley Court said: "In the last three weeks he suddenly started decorating two bedrooms and the kitchen and was tidying everything -- may be he had something on his mind, but this was not normal conduct for him."

Mr Court had parked his forklift outside the workshop and was found by a work colleague.

Mrs Court told the inquest that days before her husband's death, on September 22 last year, he had taken down a rope swing from their garden -- and it could have been this that he used to hang himself.

Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner recorded a verdict that Mr Court took his own life.