A WOMAN whose husband hanged him-self after being accused of sex offences against children has insisted: "I believe he was innocent."

The body of Alvar Walter Reynolds, 59, was found by police after they were alerted by his wife Suzanne, 44, who found a suicide note.

He had been ordered to leave the family home the previous night as a condition of his bail after being charged with 27 counts of gross indecency and indecent assault against children.

But Mrs Reynolds said she was standing by her husband's reputation "110 per cent" and never belie-ved any of the serious allegations against him.

The body of Reynolds, born and brought up in Worsthorne, was discovered at the rear of a house close to the family home in Blackburn Road, Oswaldtwistle, on September 28.

He was due to appear at Burnley Magistrates' Court 10 days later Mrs Reynolds, a full-time carer for the couple's 12-year-old daughter, said her husband had slept at her house on September 26 but the following day she had to tell him he could not stay anymore.

Mrs Reynolds said: "He wasn't allowed to spend time with our daughter unsupervised.

"She was questioned by the police to see if anything untoward had ever happened to her.

"She told the police she'd had a happy childhood and her father had never done anything like that.

"The night he was told he couldn't stay at the house he phoned me and said he had nowhere to go and have a shower after a hard day's work. He was distressed.

"He was told he wasn't even allowed to stay at my mum's where he had been staying.

"I told him to get some money from the bank and to go to a B&B, it was heartbreaking.

"We loved him so much and knew he was innocent.

"He changed from a happy-go-lucky, jolly person to someone who was a nervous wreck and convinced he was going to prison. He was a loving, caring, loyal man."

Mrs Reynolds described the morning she found her husband's work jacket in the garden, with a suicide note in the pocket.

She added: "It was a very sad note. In the letter he told me he loved me dearly and could not cope with the allegations and being away from me and our daughter.

"He said I am really sorry to put you through so much pain."

Reynolds, a welder at Ultraframe in Clitheroe, moved into a house close to Turf Moor, Burnley, when he met Suzanne while working in Accrington 19 years ago.

Mrs Reynolds, who said the couple were due to celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary on December 2, said: "He has taken this to his grave and that's something I will never be able to get over.

"I feel like my heart has been ripped out. He was my life, my soulmate.

"My daughter is absolutely distraught. She's having to have counselling and has even said that she wishes she was dead."

An inquest heard that the medical cause of death was given as hanging and coroner Michael Singleton recorded a suicide verdict.