MOTHER-OF-TWO Liz Griffiths, whose husband, Bob, took his own life last June, has asked for more help and understanding to be given to those caring for the mentally ill.

Bob Griffiths who ran Church Farm at Woodborough with his wife after she inherited it from her father, was found dead on June 9 last year just days before his 40th birthday.

An inquest in Salisbury on Tuesday heard that Mr Griffiths disguised the severity of his illness and used a homemade device to shoot himself.

He died from a single shotgun wound to the head in a workshop at Drove Farm, Manningford Abbots, which the family also runs.

After hearing that Mr Griffiths had a history of depression, assistant deputy Wiltshire Coroner Nigel Brookes recorded a verdict that he killed himself while suffering from a psychotic illness.

Mrs Griffiths told the inquest of her anguish at having to deal with a mentally ill husband, who discharged himself from the Green Lane Hospital in Devizes on a number of occasions and walked eight miles home to Woodborough.

Mr Griffiths had previously attempted to kill himself on two occasions, once with cyanide poison and then with an overdose of tablets.

His wife said there should have been better security to stop him escaping from the Devizes hospital where he had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

She spoke of her sixty days of hell of having him at home, fearing that he would attempt to take his own life, and on occasions worrying over her own safety and that of their two children.

Mrs Griffiths said: "I became like a prisoner in my own home and I would ask the consultants to give time to those left at home trying to care for someone in those circumstances."

She said: "He was clever enough to stop the visits and block the contacts.

"I would have liked more contact from the mental health service but Bob was clever at concealing his illness."

Mr Brookes said Mrs Griffiths had become an innocent victim who would have welcomed more contact from the mental health team, not just for her husband's benefit but also for her own.

The coroner said: "Perhaps he manipulated the system to prevent that contact."

Dr Peter Croft, who was Mr Griffiths' consultant psychiatrist, said the mental health team made efforts to make sure that families had contact numbers in case they needed help.

He took on board Mrs Griffiths' concern and said there was a need for the mental illness team to pick up on signs that patients were preventing the contact they needed.

Dr Croft said: "We will have to see if we can improve upon our performance."

Mr Griffiths' parents Michael and Diana who live in Chippenham, said they were concerned that their son's medication might not have been appropriate.

Dr Croft said the farmer was prescribed the anti depressant citalopram and the anti psychotic drug olanzapine within accepted dosage for the illness.

At the start of the inquest Mrs Griffiths spoke of how she met her husband through her brother who, like Mr Griffiths, was a student at Lackham College.

They were married in 1988, and in October that year Mr Griffiths joined the staff at Church Farm.

Mrs Griffiths told the inquest how her husband became psychotic and worried about things like the harvest and how the silage was coming in.

She said her husband became increasingly more worried and agitated. With hindsight, she said, she could see that his condition deteriorated in 1997 and some of the farm staff found him difficult to work with.

The family came through the foot and mouth crisis in 2001 by cutting off physical contact with the outside world.

They were planning a new dairy that came to fruition in the spring of 2002, at about the time Mrs Griffiths' father died.

Mr Griffiths' moods suffered wild swings in the summer of 2001 and they spent hours talking about his health and his feelings.

In September 2002 she tried to encourage her husband to see his GP but settled for him calling his parents and going with them for a break at their home.

Following his return to his wife and children, the Savernake Crisis Team became involved.

Mr Griffiths took cyanide poison in December 2002, but recovered after being taken to hospital.

On that occasion he handed his wife a note together with their wedding picture and one of their children. Mrs Griffiths told the inquest: "It said that basically he was doing it because he loved us and did not want to burden us with his illness."

Mr Griffiths became hyperactive getting up at 4am and wanting to get to work. "He did not sleep and everything at work was quick-step and done at speed," his wife said. "He disliked medication and stopped taking the tablets for his depression."

He was sectioned to Green Lane Hospital in 2002 although he escaped regularly and went home.

Mrs Griffiths said he would not take milk in his coffee fearing it was poisoned and family life was non-existent. "I used to cling on to one good minute in every 24 hours," she said.

In April last year Mr Griffiths made a second suicide attempt by overdosing on tablets and was readmitted to Green Lane where he remained until May 28 when he was discharged.

Mrs Griffiths said: The last two and a half weeks were amazing and you would never have known this was going to happen. "

When she was out on June 9 he went to repair a baler, but was found dead by workers with the gun at his side.