An electrician suffering from long-term depression drank whisky before commiting suicide in his car, an inquest heard.

Peter Woodward, 48, was found dead in his white Ford Escort van. Jogger Christopher Pomfret said he saw a pipe running from the exhaust to the driver's window and packed in the space with a jersey.

The van was parked in a bridleway known as Green Lane, by the B4027 close to Wooton, near Woodstock, on October 12 last year.

Mr Pomfret, of High Bank, Woodstock, said he turned the engine off and tried to lift Mr Woodward's body, which felt cold, from his car but it was too heavy. He then called an ambulance.

A half-empty bottle of whisky was found on the passenger seat of the car.

Mr Woodward's brother, James, of Nethercote Road, Tackley, said that he had been suffering from depression since the early 1980s.

He said: "He really needed help but the big problem we had with him was to go for it."

Coroner Nicholas Gardiner recorded a verdict that Mr Woodward, who lived alone in Brook Hill, Woodstock, took his own life.