A WREXHAM postman took his own life unexpectedly, an inquest heard.

Brian Roberts, 50, was found hanged at his home address on Earle Street in Wrexham on January 30 of this year.

An inquest held in Ruthin on Friday (October 16) into Mr Roberts' death heard that he had been left "heartbroken" after falling in love with two women whose feelings for him weren't "reciprocal".

Mr Roberts, who was a postman since the age of 25, was known to deal with his mental health issues largely on his own and rarely sought any professional help, the inquest was told.

The court was told that Mr Roberts had met a woman, Jill Teoli, from the Leeds area in Easter 2019 and had become "infatuated" with her to the point Ms Teoli thought he was stalking her.

However, Ms Teoli already had a partner and just wanted to be friends with him - which led to Mr Roberts confiding in her thoughts of wanting to take his own life, but had not done so to his family.

The week before his death, Mr Roberts booked four days of what he said was "life changing" unpaid leave to go to New York with Ms Teoli and a friend of her's.

However, upon his return he failed to show up for work on January 30.

After being unable to contact him, Kevin Pemberton, Mr Roberts' line manager, sent an employee round to Mr Roberts' address - whereby a light was in the house but no response to the employee's knocks on the door.

Police officers attended the address and after forcing entry found Mr Roberts hanged on the bannister of the stair case.

Letters addressed to friends and family referred to Mr Roberts being unable to live with his feelings of loneliness and "not being good enough".

A post-mortem examination undertaken into Mr Roberts' death found no evidence of alcohol or drugs in his system, and recorded a provisional cause of death as hanging.

The inquest heard that Mr Roberts' family had never heard him talking about wanting to take his own life, but that "someone or somewhere in the last two years of life changed him".

Prior to meeting Ms Teoli, the inquest heard that Mr Roberts had also fallen for a colleague who made a complaint against him for allegedly harassing her.

The court was told this had a great affect upon Mr Roberts - who believed his reputation to have been "tarnished" by the complaint.

Recording a conclusion of suicide, David Pojur, assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central, said Mr Roberts' death had likely been caused by hanging.

Mr Roberts was said by colleagues to have been a "very good postman" who had a "great sense of humour" and his death was described as a "terrible shock".

If you are experiencing thoughts of suicide, support is available by calling the Samaritans’ helpline number on 116 123.