AN 85-YEAR-OLD Radcliffe man hanged himself after telling his wife: "I've had a wonderful life."

Mr Jack Balshaw had suffered from depression as his health began to fail. Previously, he had threatened to harm himself.

The pensioner was found suspended from a length of clothes line from the loft space at his home in Bolton Road in May.

Days before, he had been visited by a Fairfield Hospital psychiatric nurse after being referred by his own GP.

In a statement read out at Friday's (July 13) inquest at Bury, his wife May said her husband began to suffer depression last year. The former electrical engineer and retired shopkeeper lost weight and he was unhappy at greyhound track closures.

He had his own dog and was worried about the animal's training and welfare.

On Christmas Day, Mr Balshaw had been taken to hospital after part of a banana became stuck in his throat.

Later, his health continued to deteriorate and he began to talk about harming himself.

Days before his death, he was visited by a psychiatric nurse but made no such threat and a second appointment was made.

The inquest heard that on the evening prior to taking his own life, Mr Balshaw had been up all night.

And hours later, as his wife was leaving to go out, he told her: "I've had a wonderful life."

On her return home, Mrs Balshaw discovered her husband hanging from the loft.

Recording a verdict of suicide, coroner Mr Barrie Williams said the previously fit and active pensioner had become depressed as his health deteriorated. He had taken the opportunity to hang himself when his wife was out.

"He knew what he was going to do and that the consequences would be fatal," said Mr Williams.