A motor mechanic from Yate was found dead in his car by a dog walker earlier this year, an inquest heard yesterday (Thursday 9 December).
Andrew Ralph, 40, of Stanshawe Crescent, Yate, was seen in his Rover car by Ian Luther near the Offa's Dyke footpath in Tidenham on 13 June.
Ralph was reported missing on 10 June and was still alive two days later when he spoke to his parents and police on the phone, the Gloucester inquest was told.
READ MORE: Colston 4 supporters to rally at Merchants Hall for first time
Sgt Grace Samuel told the inquest that Andrew's mother, Janet Ralph, called police on June 10 saying that she had last seen him at 8.30am that morning when he left the house with 'something hidden under his fleece'.
He told his parents that he was not going to work but was meeting up with his boss.
Sgt Grace Samuel said: “Later that evening John Wilcox, Mr Ralph’s boss, rang Andrew’s parents expressing his concern that he had not attended the meeting as requested at 6pm and he told them that he felt he was acting out of character.
“He said that Andrew felt that everyone was against him. Both Mr Wilcox and Andrew’s parents tried to contact him by phone, but were unsuccessful. They contacted the police to report him being missing and officers put an alert out for him.
“Two days later on June 12, the police attended Mr Ralph’s home address in the belief that he had returned home, but his mother informed them that he hadn’t returned.
“The mother also said that she felt that Andrew was acting out character because she recalled that when he was playing football with his own son a few days earlier it had gone past the child’s bedtime when Andrew was normally a stickler for routine, and she felt this was strange.
“However, the police did manage to get in contact with Mr Ralph on the phone later that day, and he told them he was still driving around trying to clear his head. He was asked if he had any suicidal thoughts and told the officer he didn’t.
“He explained that he’d been driving around and had spent the night sleeping in his car in Berkeley. The police advised Mr Ralph to go to a police station for a welfare check because they felt he was having a mental breakdown."
The inquest was told that on the evening of June 13, a motorist arriving in the Offa’s Dyke car park in Tidenham recalled that another vehicle arrived at the same time as him at 7.40pm and it was parking up.
The inquest also heard that at around 7.50pm Ian Luther had arrived at the nature reserve's car park to walk his dog.
When he got there he noticed a blue Rover car with piping running from the exhaust into the boot and that the windows were steamed up.
Sgt Samuel added: “Mr Luther removed the piping and saw a man slumped over in the vehicle. He managed to break a window with a tyre lever.
“Mr Luther then pulled Mr Ralph from the vehicle and tried to phone the police, but was unable to do so due to lack of phone signal. Another couple returning to the car park did however, manage to raise the alarm at 8pm with both the police and ambulance services.
“The police arrived within minutes and performed CPR on Mr Ralph until the paramedics took over, but Dr Godfrey formally confirmed that he had died at 8.46pm.”
Sgt Samuel noticed that the car had been reversed into the parking spot and had been sealed from the outside.
Mr Ralph had left a yellow post-it note on the dashboard saying ‘I Love You’.
Sgt Samuel concluded that there was no one else involved in Ralph's death - and there were no suspicious circumstances.
The inquest was told that a post mortem had been carried out by Dr Rahul Fulmani who confirmed that Mr Ralph died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Assistant coroner for Gloucestershire Roland Wooderson said: “Sadly the facts speak for themselves. It is under these very sad circumstances Mr Ralph took his own life.
Want our best stories with fewer ads and alerts when the biggest news stories drop? Download our app on iPhone or Android
