A SOUTHAMPTON father killed himself after suffering with depression for more than a decade, an inquest heard.

David Kimber, 52 of Maddison Street, was found hanging in a wardrobe in his apartment by his son Ryan.

Paramedics were called, but Mr Kimber was pronounced dead at the scene on February 27.

Winchester Coroner’s Court heard how the 52-year-old had been suffering with depression for years, attempting to take his own life with a drug overdose more than 10 years ago.

Ryan, who lives in North Baddesley with his mother, said he went to check on his father after returning from a training course, having last seen him on February 17.

“I tried to get hold of him by phone and by text,” he added.

“It was not unusual for him not to respond. That was just what he was like.”

However, after a number of days, he began to get concerned.

Ryan went to his father’s apartment and buzzed on the intercom a number of times, to no answer.

He then jumped the wall and let himself into the ground floor flat through the back door.

Upon checking the bedroom, Ryan found his father slumped in the wardrobe.

The inquest heard that the theatre anaesthetist technician, who worked at Southampton General Hospital, also suffered from bipolar disorder.

Ryan told the court that his father refused to take medication because of the stigma associated with the disease.

Mr Kimber added: “He would be in a certain mood one minute and then, with the flip of a coin, have change to another mood.

“When I was younger he would take the medication for it, but stopped because he did not want to be labelled by the condition.”

Senior coroner Grahame Short concluded a verdict of death by suicide.