An airline pilot from West Sussex killed himself after his marriage hit difficulty, an inquest heard.

Bernard Clark, 51, of Thakeham, near Storrington, gassed himself with carbon monoxide fumes in the garage of his home.

The inquest at Worthing heard he was found by his health therapist wife Elizabeth, 44, on October 7 last year.

She said: "I think he planned it to the last detail."

West Sussex coroner Roger Stone told the hearing Mr Clark had completed a "fairly arduous" three-month training course.

Mr and Mrs Clark, married for eight years, had been under pressure and stress which had resulted in them spending a week apart.

He was on sick leave, was not coping very well and was sleeping poorly.

Mrs Clark said she and a neighbour tried to revive her husband on the lawn of their home in Merrywood Lane.

Consultant pathologist Dr Keith Roberts said death was due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Mr Stone concluded that Mr Clark, who had two sons from a previous marriage, had taken his own life.