A FATHER told a coroner how he was left mystified by the discovery of his 19-year-old son's body, slumped in his bedroom last Friday (Aug 4).

Daniel David Lewis Hindle, who worked as a store assistant in Sainsbury's, Prestwich, was discovered in his uniform with a dressing gown cord around his neck.

He was later pronounced dead at North Manchester General Hospital despite efforts at resuscitation by his father, a nurse who lived nearby, and paramedics.

Mr John David Lewis Hindle, of Devonshire Place, Prestwich, told Bury District Coroner Mr Barrie Williams at the opening of the hearing on Wednesday (Aug 9), that his son, who was popular with a wide circle of friends, had given him no cause for concern or expressed intentions of self-harm. He was due to go out that evening.

"He had no depression, and if there was any emotion at any time he soon got over it," said Mr Hindle. "I've been trying to work out the whole thing but I can't. I simply have no explanation," he said. It was another of Mr Hindle's sons who found Daniel in his bedroom, sat with the cord around his neck, attached to a wardrobe door handle.

It was shortly after he had gone upstairs to eat his tea. A friend had phoned about plans for going out that evening, and Daniel's brother had gone upstairs to get him.

Although he had recently ended a long-term relationship, he still maintained contact with the young woman, and they had gone to Greece for a holiday in June.

When Daniel came home from work on the evening of August 4, his mother asked if he was upset about something in relation to the young lady, but he said he would sort it out.

"I would say there was nothing unusual in that," his father told the coroner.

"He got over things very well. In fact he had failed his driving test on the Monday, but he did not let it get him down and went out and rebooked it."

The coroner heard that Daniel had spent his first year in Germany before the family moved to Cumbria, where his father took up a teaching post. In 1982 they moved to the Prestwich area in connection with work. Daniel later went to St Monica's RC High School.

Neither was it unusual for Daniel to take his tea upstairs, where he would listen to music. Mr Hindle said he was unable to say whether the cord from the wardrobe was bearing the weight of his son who was found sat facing the window.

"He never gave any indication of an intention to self-harm," said Mr Hindle.

A police investigation revealed no suspicious circumstances in Daniel's death. The coroner adjourned the inquest pending the outcome of further enquiries.