A BT engineer killed himself by jumping from the roof of the Blackburn exchange after becoming worried about possible disciplinary action, an inquest heard.

The hearing was told that Stephen Ainslie had a visit from his area manager John Bowling to discuss an incident at work shortly before he leapt to his death from the four-storey building.

After the two-hour meeting, described as a "fact-finding interview", the manager told Mr Ainslie, 44, to go and get some lunch with a view to resuming their discussions afterwards. He told the inquest: "I said to Steve he might as well get some lunch because I needed to speak to human resources to see what the next stage would be.

"When he came back he asked how it was going and I told him I was trying to speak to my boss to discuss what options we had.

"Steve said he'd leave me to it. It was likely some action would have been taken against him but that had to be decided."

Mr Bowling said when he arrived at the office, Steve had seemed his normal self but had become subdued when he found out they would be having a chat.

The only person to see Mr Ainslie during the lunch break was Carol Aspden, the former partner of his cousin.

She said: "He did not seem himself. He looked preoccupied. I'd always known him as such a cheery person."

Mr Ainslie's wife, Lillian, of Sunnyhurst Lane, Darwen, said her husband had dropped her off at work around 7.45am that day and she did not suspect anything was wrong..

That evening, Stephen was found by Blackburn man Gordon Hodgson in a courtyard at the exchange the following morning.

DS Simon Giles said there was no evidence to suggest it had been an accidental fall.

He told the inquest when officers searched Mr Ainslie's office after his death they found a noose suspended from the ceiling but a BT colleague told officers it was a comic prop related to an office joke.

Coroner Michael Singleton said he was satisfied with a verdict that Mr Ainslie killed himself.

He said: "It seems he was seen by his line manager and although it was at an early fact-finding stage, it could may well have lead to a disciplinary hearing."

"I can be satisfied so as to be sure that Mr Ainslie deliberately leapt from the building to his death."