A MAN charged with rape fulfilled his grim prophecy to kill himself.

After he had told his girlfriend he was going to gas himself in a car, the body of Dennis Proudfoot was discovered in his fume-filled and fire-damaged vehicle.

An inquest was told on Tuesday how the Bury Council labourer from Radcliffe claimed he had tried to take his own life only days earlier while in police custody.

However, Bury Police said they were unaware of such an incident during the time spent by the 21-year-old undergoing questioning.

The hearing in Bury was told he was found dead early on December 10 in an Austin Montego car, bought the day before. It was parked near his home at St John's Court, Radcliffe, which he shared with his divorced mother, Carole Wilcox.

The inquest was told Mr Proudfoot was arrested the previous Saturday on suspicion of raping an 18-year-old girl. On Sunday he was bailed after being charged with the offence.

The dead man's father, also called Dennis, told the hearing his son was very distressed when he met him later.

Mr Proudfoot (45) of Fairfield Drive, Bury, said: "He had just been released. He was crying his eyes out and said he'd be sent down for the next seven years."

Commenting on the tapes of his son's interview with police, he told coroner Barrie Williams: "If you listen to these tapes, you'd know why he killed himself."

The dead man's girlfriend, Wendy Corns (23) of Willow Street, Bury, said he called at her house on the Sunday.

"He told me he was going to kill himself. He said he was going to gas himself in a car." She also said her boyfriend had threatened to inject himself first with heroin. He told her he had attempted to kill himself while in police custody.

"He had tried to hang himself using the cord of his tracksuit bottoms, but the cord broke."

Milkman Mark Kilcoyne (35) of Betley Street, Radcliffe, told the hearing he saw Mr Proudfoot's car, with smoke pouring from it, while making deliveries early on December 10.

He ran to a nearby garage and while an employee there rang the fire brigade Mr Kilcoyne ran back to the scene intent on warning residents about the car fire. However, the Montego suddenly exploded, knocking him out of his stride.

Police and fire officers attended the scene and discovered a plastic hose had led from the exhaust into a rear window.

Whitefield-based fire station officer Mr Stuart Wilkinson said an examination showed a fault in the vehicle's carburettor resulting in vapours building up, igniting and causing combustion.

Pathologist Dr William Lawler said death was due to carbon monoxide poisoning from the exhaust fumes and products of the combustion.

Recording a verdict of suicide, coroner Barrie Williams said: "Although he was charged with a serious offence, the presumption of innocence applies."

Since the matter never came to court, he added, Mr Proudfoot was innocent at the time of death. Commenting on the fact he faced the charge, Mr Williams went on: "The experience must have worried him. He was naturally anxious about the circumstances and possible consequences. He had the time and opportunity to plan what he had to do."

Following the death, Mr Proudfoot's father received a letter from the victim of the alleged rape, saying his son was innocent. Two other men have already appeared in court charged with the rape of which Mr Proudfoot had been accused.

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