A YOUNG man with hopes of becoming a stand-up comedian and a writer hanged himself in an impulsive act, an inquest heard.

Gavin Prior, from Shoreham, was found dead in his flat in College Place on May 28 last year.

The 34-year-old had been suffering with mental health issues and had been in psychiatric care in the four months leading up to his death.

Brighton and Hove coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley, concluded that the cause of death was hanging.

She said: “From the evidence I believe nothing intervened and there were no other intentions for Gavin’s death.

“I am going to record the conclusion that Gavin took his own life.”

She said his diagnosis of bipolar disorder and psychosis in January last year contributed to his death.

His family said he would often “run before he could walk” and had huge aspirations for a career.

But when he left the hospital, he found it hard to come to terms with his illness, and realised his aspirations for an immediate career seemed unlikely.

He was then diagnosed with depression and anxiety.

His father, Richard, said the mental illness “took his life away”.

Ms Hamilton-Deeley said: “Being a very intelligent man, it was perhaps dangerous that he regained insight into the reality of his life following treatment and discovered, as his consultant psychiatrist Dr Tim Ojo put it, a ‘profound sadness’.”

Mr Prior was arrested in 2017 for sending hundreds of messages to a woman he never met during a psychotic episode.

Rather than imprisonment, he completed a mental health assessment and was taken into psychiatric care for four months.

Despite being supervised by specialist health care teams when he was discharged in April last year, he killed himself.

Ms Hamilton-Deely said if the act of suicide had been planned, Mr Prior would have left notes for the family, being the writer that he was, and the close relationship they had.

She concluded the suicide was an impulsive act.

She said: “I believe Gavin was struggling for quite some time before he was taken into care.

“I don’t think any family could have done more. He was a man living with profound sadness.

“I understand from family he liked to play the clown in a social situation and he wanted to be a stand-up comedian. When you look at the characters of some of the famous comedians of our time, it’s like they are on two sides of the same coin.”