A DAD struggling to cope with the death of his young daughter killed himself on the eve of Father's Day.

Forty-year-old David Ash was found hanging from his loft by his brother, who was visiting with a present.

At an inquest held yesterday, the Worcestershire coroner, Victor Round, said Mr Ash had separated from his partner.

He lived alone at Dowles Road, Kidderminster, and was last seen alive on Friday, June 14, when he visited his brother Nigel.

"It was his brother who found him hanging from rafters in the loft," coroner's officer Michael Richards said in a statement.

"A note was found and it was perfectly clear what his intentions were. It referred to his three-year-old daughter. Her death had affected him."

The County Hall inquest heard that Natasha had died in September in Birmingham's Diana, Princess of Wales, Children's Hospital after an illness. He also had another child.

It was around the same time that his relationship collapsed and he tried to take an overdose, but he was stopped by his brother.

In a statement, Nigel Ash told the inquest how he discovered his brother.

"I could see his legs coming down from the loft hatch in the hallway," he said. "I called him, thinking he was doing something in the loft, but I discovered he was hanging."

Mr Round recorded a verdict of suicide.