A depressed librarian set up an intricate death trap at his home to blow himself up, an inquest heard.

Lucien Moore, 46, doused the inside of his garden shed with petrol and set the timer on an electric heater.

He then swallowed sleeping bills and alcohol before sitting back and waiting for the building to go up in flames.

Mr Moore was found dead in the shed of his home in Church Marks Lane, East Hoathly, near Uckfield, on November 2 last year.

The inquest at Eastbourne Magistrates' Court yesterday heard he had connected a two-bar heater in the shed to the mains of his house using extension leads. Firefighters believe when the heater switched on through a pre-set timer switch, the petrol vapours in the shed ignited.

Pathologist Jane Mercer found Mr Moore died of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by smoke inhalation, before his body was badly burnt. The post-mortem also revealed he had consumed more than three times the legal alcohol limit for driving.

Mr Moore had left an envelope marked "police" in his Rover car parked outside his home. Inside were two suicide notes, a crucifix and some photographs.

In a statement read by the coroner, scenes of crimes officer Helen Smith said: "The shed was a brick building, with wooden doors and frames and a tin roof.

"There was a bottle of Martini on the floor, a box of matches and two strips of Zopiclone tablets, one empty and one with two pills left. There were photographs and papers relating to various unknown people and events. The body was lying face down on the floor."

Firefighters retrieved a number of candles, a melted five-litre petrol can and removed a leaking butane gas canister that posed a threat of explosion.

Fire officer Peter Higgins, who investigated the blaze, said: "The fire started with an overpressure, which I can only describe as a whoosh. It shattered the window of the shed, which indicates the fire was started by a heat source igniting the flammable vapours."

Police ruled out the possibility of anyone else being involved in Mr Moore's death. East Sussex coroner Alan Craze recorded a verdict of "suicide while the balance of his mind was disturbed."

He added: "I am satisfied he neither did or said anything to anybody which could have warned them about what he was planning to do. I extend my sympathies to his family."