Chef hanged himself before interview

A pub chef filled his flat with gas and then hanged himself just hours before a job interview, an inquest was told last week.

Gorden Raine, who worked at Durham's Swan and Three Cygnets, was convinced he would die young. It was a belief that made him live life "in the fast lane" the Durham city inquest heard.

Neither the 30-year-old chef's mother nor his girlfriend could offer a reason why he should kill himself days before Christmas and on the brink of a new job.

Police broke into Raine's flat in Allergate, Durham, when his girlfriend's telephone calls went unanswered. They found a fractured gas pipe in the kitchen only yards from where the chef was hanging.

The inquest gave a verdict of suicide.

The incident is the latest in a string of chef suicides. In December a jury at Westminster Coroner's Court heard that Pietro Dellapina of North Harrow, London, died after stepping in front of an underground train. He had been treated for depression after losing his job.

And in June last year, self-employed chef Jonathan Atkins hanged himself after being told he was to lose his franchise at London's Apollo theatre.