A SURFER was found hanging in his garage by his father.

Nick Kelly, 30, had been out pursuing his favourite pastime off Hove beach on the afternoon of May 2.

His father John found his body later that day in the garage of their family home in The Drive, Hove.

Nick, who suffered from psychosis, had been getting help for his condition in the months before and told medics people were following him around, an inquest at Brighton Coroner’s Court heard yesterday.

He had suffered from paranoia and anxiety and was unemployed because of his mental health state, though he had a “good work ethic”.

John Kelly began to worry about his on the evening of Wednesday May 2, believing he had not returned home.

He walked into the garage and found his son hanging, still wearing the wetsuit he had been out surfing in.

He cut him down and called paramedics but it was too late – Nick was pronounced dead shortly after 9pm.

The inquest was told he had smoked “strong skunk” cannabis for some years, and it worsened his hallucinations.

His psychosis was said to have begun in 2015 after he returned to Brighton from a spell living in Newquay, Cornwall, though mental health doctors never found out exactly what happened there.

The inquest heard from Katy Brown, Nick’s early intervention practitioner from Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, who described him as an “intelligent” man and said he was “very friendly and warm”.

His parents consistently tried to get him help and he stayed in contact with Ms Brown.

However, he never revealed he felt suicidal to specialists and was not regarded as a high-risk patient by the trust, the inquest heard.

Coroner Catharine Palmer recorded his death as suicide by hanging and said his psychotic illness contributed to his decision to take his own life.

She said he was “intelligent” and added that she could not find “anything problematic” with the treatment he received.

She said: “I do find the trust Nick placed in people was limited.

"He was suspicious of people and extremely private.

"He knew full well if anyone got wind of him trying to kill himself they would have tried to prevent it.”

She said these factors “put up barriers” to him getting the help he needed.

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