A 16-YEAR-OLD found his "depressed and anxious" father hanging at a house in Blackburn, an inquest was told.

Ifran Mahmud screamed when he found his father, Khalid Mahmud, 53, at the property in Mossdale on October 5, the hearing was told.

Coroner Michael Singleton said the circumstances in which the youth came across his father were "doubly tragic".

He said the plant worker had lived alone since the break-up of his marriage and was suffering from depression and anxiety for which he had been prescribed anti-depressants.

A statement by his son said Mr Mahmud had previously threatened to hang himself and throw himself under a train.

He visited his father at 10pm on October 5 to find the front door unlocked and "immediately screamed" upon finding the body, Mr Singleton said at yesterday's inquest, in Blackburn.

Paramedics were called but Mr Mahmud was pronounced dead at the scene. A note was found.

A statement was also read out from Yakoob Mohammed, a friend of the family who had visited Mr Mahmud since July.

He said: "Since I have known him he has been suicidal and regularly tells me he has no reason to live."

He said Mr Mahmud would send him text messages saying he was suicidal but Mr Mohammed classed these as "empty threats" and he never thought Mr Mahmud would "do it for a real".

He had seen Mr Mahmud's final note two weeks before his death, he said.

Mr Mohammed said: "Khalid was always writing these and I used to rip them up and throw them in the bin."

Mr Singleton, coroner for Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley, said: "Given the history that I have heard and given the circumstances under which he was found it seems to me that I must conclude he had intended to bring about his own demise."