AN EPILEPTIC chef who committed suicide by hanging himself from the rafters of a Bradford on Avon pub suffered a lifetime of personal tragedy.

Fernando Ricardo Franco left suicide notes written to his ex-girlfriend in the flat above The Kings Arms pub in Coppice Hill, before hanging himself from a ceiling beam with a blue nylon rope.

Pub landlord John Williams found Mr Franco at 10.45am on September 27, suspended off the ground with his arms slumped on a sofa.

Mr Williams, who also runs the Bunch of Grapes in Silver Street, said Mr Franco's body was like a "waxwork model".

Deputy Wiltshire coroner William Bache, sitting at Chippenham magistrates' court on Wednesday, said 40-year-old Mr Franco suffered a "tempestuous life" which stemmed from the death of his mother.

Mr Franco, who started work at the Bradford on Avon pub less than week before his death, was also depressed after the break-up of his long-term relationship with Cora Scott.

Mrs Scott, who lives on a farm near Salisbury, told the inquest Mr Franco was a heavy drinker who once set fire to their farm by pushing over a motorbike.

The couple met when London-born Mr Franco started work at Mrs Scott's hotel near Shaftesbury.

The couple moved to Salisbury and bought a smallholding, but Mr Franco spiralled back into depression and began drinking heavily.

Mrs Scott said: "He behaved like two different people.

"He could be the most loving person.

"He had a lot of problems from when he was young."

In a written statement Carlos Franco, who lives in Huddersfield, said his brother never recovered from the death of their mother.

The brothers were never told how their mother died or where her body is buried.

Mr Franco said his brother was jailed for four years in Switzerland for shooting a love rival in the buttocks after he caught him in bed with his long-term girlfriend.

Moving to Madrid the qualified chef started living rough on the streets and was disowned by his rich Panamanian father.

Mr Franco moved back to England in the 1990s and had one failed relationship before he met Mrs Scott.

Coroner Mr Bache said: "Mr Franco quite plainly had had something of a tempestuous life and there had been a number of events in it which probably contributed to his erratic behaviour.

"Unfortunately on occasions it is just impossible to reach people when they are in the depths of despair."

Verdict: Suicide.