A DEFRA vet killed himself in his Bramhope hotel room with drugs used to put down animals, an inquest heard.

Leeds Coroners Court heard how retired vet Robert Thomas Knowles, 67, who had volunteered to work for DEFRA in Leeds during the foot and mouth crisis, was found dead at Bramhope's Holiday Inn hotel, Leeds Road, on October 6.

But despite his close work with farmers who had lost their livestock in foot and mouth culls, assistant deputy coroner Alan Benstock ruled out any link between to Mr Knowles' suicide and the foot and mouth crisis.

Mr Benstock said Mr Knowles, of East Rudham, King's Lynn, Norfolk, may have been worried about personal financial difficulties due to the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the stock market.

Mr Knowles, who was married had retired and sold his Norfolk veterinary practice some years earlier, but came out of retirement to help DEFRA when foot and mouth struck last year.

He worked at Bury St Edmunds in the early stages of the outbreak, then in Carlisle, before transferring to the DEFRA crisis control centre in Leeds.

He stayed in Bramhope during the week, travelling home to King's Lynn at weekend. But a statement from his wife, Julie, said she became worried when her husband failed to return home one Saturday.

Police were called to the hotel, where they found Mr Knowles's body.

The inquest heard statements from two police officers, who discovered two glasses lying on a cabinet, one smelling of whiskey or brandy, and the other containing a pink residue.

The police officers found a number of bottles of a pink-coloured veterinary drug - used for the euthanasia of small animals - in the open cardboard box. Two empty drugs bottles were found in a bin.

A post mortem revealed the presence of the chemical pentabarbitone, contained in the drug.

Mr Benstock said that although no suicide note had been found in the hotel room, he was satisfied with the evidence that Mr Knowles had intended to take his own life.

"It is evident that the deceased clearly knew what the drugs were capable of. These drugs are regularly used by vets to deal with the euthanasia of animals," said Mr Benstock.

Mrs Knowles's statement said she was aware her husband had been involved with investment on the stock market, and had previously lost some money through his investments.

She said she had not been aware that he had continued to invest, and became worried about further losses after the terrorist attacks in the United States. Mr Knowles had suffered from depression the previous year, she said, and also suffered from angina.