A MOTHER did not read an email from her son saying he was ‘going to exit’ until the following day when he tried to kill himself, an inquest heard.

Neal Metcalfe, of Pembroke Street, Old Town, was found unconscious by police on the morning of February 24 after his mother, Mary Metcalfe, raised the alarm when she read an email he had sent her the night before.

The 38-year-old, who was still breathing when he was found, had taken an overdose the night before and was taken to Great Western Hospital where he died three days later.

Mrs Metcalfe had asked her son to see a doctor about depression a few months earlier, Swindon Coroner’s Court heard yesterday.

“He became increasingly paranoid,” she said.

“He would tell me he could hear his neighbours through the walls talking about him.

“I believe he was misinterpreting what people were saying to him. I was extremely worried about him.”

The IT consultant had been a keen gym member but cancelled his membership after rumours spread about him.

“He became obsessed with his body image. At my house he would sometimes stand in the mirror and pinch his waist and complain about the weight on him,” she said.

A few days before Mr Metcalfe took the overdose he told his mother he had made an appointment to see a doctor in March.

But he sent an email to his mother on February 23, which said: “This is difficult enough. I’m going to exit.

“The back door is open so no-one will have to force their way in.”

PC Mark Kuklinski found Mr Metcalfe in his front room next to empty packets of medication.

The police also found a letter, which had been typed by Mr Metcalfe, the inquest heard.

“The terminology was a bit cryptic but the conditions of it were that this is the end and that he intended to end it, it was like a final letter,” said PC Kuklinski.

Coroner Ian Singleton recorded the cause of death as a multiple drug overdose.