A 'hardworking' support worker took his own life after being suspended from his job, an inquest has heard.
Darren Hindley, 54, was reported missing from his mum's home in Atherton on the morning of January 18. His body was discovered in the Leigh branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, that evening.
At an inquest into his death, Darren's mum Yvonne Hindley told Bolton Coroner's Court that he suffered with depression and mentioned his dad leaving when Darren was 18 as a potential trigger. "It really hurt him," she said.
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Mrs Hindley also told the hearing that Darren's first wife had died and that his second marriage broken down. "He could have been a lot happier," she admitted.
At the time of his death, Darren was working for Wigan Council as a support worker and Mrs Hindley said that he "really enjoyed helping people" but that he was "working too many hours".
She added: “He was always a hard worker. He wasn’t a lazy man at all.
“He didn’t have much time off. I was telling him he was working too many hours."
Mrs Hindley had been staying with a friend while Darren stayed at her house and the last time she spoke to Darren was on the morning of his death.
Talking about their last phone conversation, she said: "I asked if he was alright and he just said 'I’m tired mum, I’m just so so tired'. He sounded as if he had the world on his shoulders."
Darren's partner of 11 years, Elisa Hari, told the inquest that he was suspended from his job around 10 days before his death over accusations made against him that were not detailed during the hearing.
"The weekend before [his death] he was very distressed because work told him they'd update him on the Friday about the investigation but he didn't receive a call so he spiralled between Friday and Sunday," she said. He found it very difficult to think about anything else.
"He wasn't sleeping, he wasn't eating, he was pacing, he couldn't engage in normal conversation."
In a statement, service manager Victoria Lowe confirmed that Wigan Council had informed Darren of an investigation and said that the council had provided him with a link to get support.
On January 11, Darren was prescribed antidepressants after telling an out-of-hours GP that he was having problems at work and suffering with insomnia. Ms Hari said that he made an effort to take the medication every night before bed.
The inquest heard that Darren split his time between his mum's house and Ms Hari's home. Ms Hari said that on January 16, he said that he would stay at his mum's but she was worried he was not in the right mental state to drive and persuaded him to leave the following morning.
On the morning of January 17, Ms Hari asked Darren if he was having suicidal thoughts before he left to go to his mum's house. "I'd never asked him before but he looked so terrible and because of my job, I recognised that's how he presented," she told the inquest.
After reassuring Ms Hari that he was not suicidal, Darren went to his mum's. That evening he rang Ms Hari after receiving a text from work.
"He read it to me and I interpreted that it meant they hadn’t started investigation yet. I think that was overwhelming for him.
"I rang him back later but there was no response. I was worried so the next morning (January 18) I sent another text but there was no answer, then I tried to phone him at lunch but his phone was turned off."
Ms Hari contacted Darren's best friend of 40 years Paul Wilkinson, who lived close to Darren's mum, and asked him to check on Darren.
"I thought it was unusual because I was seeing him following day and didn’t think there was an issue," Mr Wilkinson said. "I went round to check on him to make sure he was okay and there was a police van outside the house.
"They asked me a couple of things and told me his car had been found in Leigh. Then the officer said 'you might be better going home'.
"I went to where his car was and there was no sign of Darren. Then I went looking round Pennington Flash, got back to his car and there were a lot more police.
"When they saw me, they seemed to stop what they were doing. I went back to some police women I'd spoken to before and they told me to go home.
"I did but at 6am the following morning, I went looking for Darren again and I spoke to Elisa about 8 to say I couldn't find him. At about 3pm, she let me know they’d found Darren."
Police coroner's officer Julieann Hyde told the court that a bag belonging to Darren had been found at around 11pm on January 18. His body was discovered at around 11.30pm.
A number of suicide notes to friends and family were also found in Darren's car. "It showed clear planning and intention," Ms Hyde told the court.
Following a post mortem, pathologist Dr Stephen Wells recorded 'drowning' as the medical cause of Darren's death. A toxicology report showed that he also had alcohol and cannabis in his system but these were not recorded as contributory factors.
Assistant coroner for Manchester West Stephen Teasdale said that Darren had been "unhappy" and was "having difficulty coping" prior to his death. He reached a conclusion of suicide.
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