BUILDING society chief Eddie Shapland was given two pieces of good news the day before he killed himself, his deputy and close friend told an inquest.

His daughter Kay had exchanged contracts on a house she was buying and the Marsden Building Society's results for 1997 were even better than expected, Neil Shoesmith told the hearing at Burnley.

Mr Shoesmith, who was appointed on Monday as Mr Shapland's successor, said that as they left the society's head office in Nelson on January 14, Mr Shapland seemed a little preoccupied but not enough to concern him.

The next morning Mr Shapland was found hanging from a beam at the family's converted barn home at Little Tom's Farm, Little Tom's Lane, Lanehead, Burnley, by his wife Janet and daughter Kay.

East Lancashire coroner David Smith recorded a verdict that Mr Shapland killed himself while depressed.

He said: "If you are in that sort of job there's a terrible amount of pressure and however good you are at coping with it it sometimes becomes too much.

"That looks to be the case."

Mr Smith stressed: "I want to make it abundantly clear his death has nothing to do with his business dealings or affects his integrity at all.

"I wanted to set the record straight on that point. We owe him that much."

Mrs Shapland told the inquest that her husband was in stressful job but he did not bring his business problems home with him.

He had been treated by his doctor for high blood pressure but had stopped the medication and gone on to a herbal remedy.

"He had suffered from mild depression but he said it was nothing he couldn't fight off himself," said Mrs Shapland.

The night before his death, a mobile hairdresser had called at the house to do the family's hair and they had watched football on television.

"He seemed fine," said Mrs Shapland.

The next morning the radio alarm woke her and when she could not find her husband, Mrs Shapland searched the house and found him hanging by a rope in a storeroom.

A post-mortem examination confirmed he died as a result of hanging.

Mr Shoesmith said: "A chief executive of a small regional building society has a tremendous amount of pressure to deal with."

Detective Inspector Ron Griffiths, who led the investigation into Mr Shapland's death, said there were no suspicious circumstances.

Doctor's records showed Mr Shapland had a check-up on January 9 and his blood pressure was fine.

He was not receiving any medication for depression.

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