THE motivation of a man who poisoned himself to death has been branded a 'mystery' by a coroner.

Christopher Walling, 35, of Church View, Staveley, was found with 'fatal' levels of carbon monoxide inhis body close to the Whinfell radio mast at Grayrigg, on February 17, this year.

His wife, Margaret, told the court he had lost a friend to suicide two years earlier and had been worried about being made redundant - but South Lakes coroner Ian Smith said it was still unclear why he took his own life.

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"I really don't know what his motivation was,” said Mr Smith.

"Yes, he may have been concerned about his job and may have been affected by the death of his friend but really they don't fully explain why he should have taken the course of action that he did."

Mrs Walling told the court that her husband had been in good health and 'nothing major' had happened that would have made her concerned.

However she said the day before his death Mr Walling had admitted he had been thinking about his tragic friend 'a lot recently'.

His body was found in his car by a BT engineer.

An empty whisky bottle, some loose Cocodamol tablets and a note were found in the car - although the levels of alcohol and codeine found in his blood were ‘low.’

Mr Smith concluded that Mr Walling had died 'as a consequence of his own actions', but said his state of mind was 'not clear'.