A man whose body was found on a rocky stretch of beach in Pembrokeshire had been depressed, according to his wife.
Nicholas Barry was found sitting on a wall on the shore between Llanreath and Fort Road in Pembroke Dock with three photos and a bottle of wine between his legs, an inquest heard on Wednesday, January 12.
The 61-year-old, who had type two diabetes, was pronounced dead at the scene on August 20 after his body was reportedly discovered by children.
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In a report read out by Lisa Jenkins, the coroner's officer for Pembrokeshire, an inquest heard how Mr Barry was a skilled paint sprayer and worked with cars and as a vehicle damage assessor. He'd worked hard after leaving school aged 16 and everything he did "was to better himself and expand his knowledge".
In the weeks leading up to his death he had started to share the heavy burden of this thoughts with Elizabeth, his wife of nearly 16 years. Having been diagnosed with diabetes a decade ago he had suffered joint and muscle pain which he found "difficult to deal with", said Miss Jenkins.
His condition started to affect his eyesight and he started to tell Mrs Barry how he was feeling. She believed he was depressed although he never received a formal diagnosis.
Mrs Barry had spent the night of August 19 with their daughter to give her husband some space but a voicemail message from Mr Barry the following morning caused the two women some concern. They both rushed over to the marital home in Front Street, Pembroke Dock, where they found paperwork and belongings laid out on a table and two separate suicide notes.
Dyfed-Powys Police was notified just after midday but the ambulance service reported a body had been found shortly afterwards. Mr Barry was found with a half-empty bottle of wine and some photographs.
Paul Bennett, the acting senior coroner for Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire accepted the findings of the post-mortem examination, which showed that Mr Barry had died from asphyxia secondary to ligature on his neck. There were "no significant toxicological findings", he added.
"Sadly events leading to Nicholas' death were such as to be premeditated," Mr Bennett added.
"The position of leaving the notes were indicative on Nicholas Barry's part to end his life. I'm satisfied that Nicholas did have the intention to end his life and took steps to do so."
Recording a conclusion of suicide, Mr Bennett offered his condolences to Mr Barry's family saying: "It's clearly very sad when someone is driven to this particular state of mind for whatever reason."
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