THE sister of a Winkfield man who killed himself after believing his new colleague didn’t like him, said his family have been left puzzled by his death.

Neil Clark, 54, of Cranbourne Hall Park, Winkfield, a maintenance worker for Thames Hospice in Windsor, was found dead at his home on Tuesday, May 26.

A note found on a bedside table mentioned how he thought a colleague didn’t like him and was undermining him and had told his sister, Karen Thatcher, that he wanted to leave.

The last sentence read: “I have been set up, I would never harm the hospice or anyone in it. I go to God.”

Speaking at the inquest at Reading Town Hall last Thursday, his sister Karen Thatcher said: “He had been unsettled and had been talking about leaving, had been hoping he could use his money to do something positive and get a heavy goods licence. We weren’t aware of depression, we knew he was a bit moody and sometimes preferred to stay away but when he did visit he was his usual sparkling self.”

Assistant coroner Ravi Sidhu said that, according to the human resources department, there were no issues reported with either his attendance or his behaviour.

His sister said: “He was a very caring person. There is nothing we can think of as a family as to why he would have taken such a step to take his own life.

"We just felt there was something in him that decided one Tuesday morning he didn’t want to be here any more.

“He was a very caring person, he helped our father care for our mother when she was terminally ill and after that he went to work in the hospice."

Mr Sidhu added that Mr Clark had no history of ill health, was healthy, active, liked walking, photography and was passionate about music.

When asked why he might have taken his own life, Mrs Thatcher said: “That is what we have been pondering. We know the how but the why puzzles us.

“Nothing we know of would have prompted him to take his own life."

“He had put down a deposit on the Saturday for a Harley Davidson and had a reunion with some fellow musicians on Saturday night.”

His brother Ken Clark said: “There was no medical history that suggested he had depression but I had drawn the conclusion that he suffered from it over the years.

“He used to say it was one of his lows. If we hadn’t heard from him in a long time he would say: ‘I have been in one of my lows but I am alright now.'”

Assistant coroner Ravi Sidhu recorded a verdict that Mr Clark had taken his own life by asphyxiation., coroner Ravi Sidhu said: “It really is an awful thing for a family to have to reconcile.

“He took his own life and he knew he was taking his own life.”