A 'TALENTED' mechanical engineer said to have been much loved by his supportive family drank himself to death, an inquest has heard.

Timothy Richardson, who lived in Cark-in Cartmel, was found dead in public toilets at Pig Lane in Grange on the morning of June 22 this year by the parish council lengthsman.

A postmortem examination found the 47-year-old father of two, who had held prominent positions at Sellafield Ltd, BAE Systems, James Cropper Plc and most recently at GEN2, had five times the amount of alcohol in his system than the current drink drive limit.

The hearing, held at County Hall in Kendal this morning, heard fitness fanatic Mr Richardson, who was originally from Ulverston, had been to sent to private rehabilitation centres on several occasions to treat his alcohol addiction but had relapsed in April this year.

South Cumbria assistant coroner Robert Chapman recorded the death as misadventure.