A coroner has recorded an open verdict on the death of Hope Of The States guitarist James 'Jimmi' Lawrence who was found hanging in Peter Gabriel's studio in Box.

Despite being found with a scarf wrapped round his neck and possessing a notebook full of suicidal drawings Wiltshire coroner Richard van Oppen said there was insufficient evidence to prove he took his own life.

The inquest was held at Salisbury Coroner's Court last Thursday.

Mr Lawrence, aged 26, was found by fellow band members at 4.30am on January 15 after a late night recording.

Hope Of The States, formed in Chichester in Sussex, was hailed as the next big thing on the Indie music scene and last year the band drew favourable comparisons with Radiohead.

The band landed a contract with music giant Sony Records and was tipped to achieve mainstream success.

On the night of Mr Lawrence's death, the members had been at the Real World studio, putting the finishing touches to their first album .

They had been working all day and band member Sam Herlihy described Mr Lawrence as very relaxed.

He told the coroner that a year ago there had been a dispute among the band on how to spilt the proceeds of the contract but this had been ironed out.

Around 10pm that day the band decided to take a break at the Queen's Head pub in Box.

They returned to the studio around midnight and spent part of the early hours recording DVD footage for an upcoming release.

At 3.45am all the band members except Mr Lawrence went back to the house where they were staying to watch a film.

Mr Lawrence told them he would join them later.

Mr Herlihy said: "Jimmi appeared to be perfectly happy. There was no cause for alarm."

Back at the house the band watched the film for half an hour and Mr Lawrence did not return. They rang his mobile but it went straight to voicemail.

Mr Herlihy returned to the studio with other band members to look for Mr Lawrence around 4.30am.

They found the main studio locked from the inside and went around the building to the window.

As they looked, they saw Mr Lawrence hanging from the studio beams with a scarf wrapped round his neck.

Paramedics and the police were called but they failed to revive him and he was pronounced dead at 5.05am.

The last person to see Mr Lawrence alive was security guard Jason Perrett who checked the studio at 4am. Mr Lawrence was using the computer and there were several lager cans on the desk.

When police searched his room they found a notebook with pictures of people hanging themselves and a piece of paper with lyrics including the line "make sure the record is finished."

But band members told the coroner they did not think Mr Lawrence had a macabre obsession with death although he would often pretend to be down to get sympathy.

However, Mr Lawrence's former girlfriend Erica MacCarthur said that he had told her he had tried to commit suicide by taken a paracetamol overdose and attempting to hang himself on separate occasions.

The couple split in January last year but kept in close contact. She told the coroner that Mr Lawrence had shown her self-inflicted cuts on his forearms and he seemed to be unhappy with life.

Before his death Mr Lawrence had left a message on her answer phone saying 'hi Erica, bye Erica'. At the time she thought nothing of it.

Mr Lawrence's father Brian told the inquest that his son had shown no indication of being depressed.

Recording an open verdict, Mr van Open said: "I am not so satisfied that Jimmi intended to take his own life."