A new dad hanged himself in an isolated barn only hours after drafting a text to his family promising to get help because he was “rock bottom”.

Martin Houlihan’s body was discovered in August last year in a derelict barn that belonged to his farming family in Oakworth.

An inquest in Bradford yesterday heard how the 33-year-old had taken his own life while the balance of his mind was disturbed.

But his mother Nora Houlihan said after the inquest her son “had everything to live for” and in a couple of years would have inherited the family farm.

Mrs Houlihan, who has four other sons, said: “He was the youngest and the quietest. It’s such a waste of a good life and more tragic that we’ll never know why he did it. He was a loveable, caring and understanding man. He may be gone from our lives, but he is here in our hearts and we can still see him in his daughter. I think of him every day.”

The inquest heard how Mr Houlihan, who had been a self-employed civil engineer and had lived in Moor Drive, Oakworth, with his wife Alison and their six-week-old daughter Kate, had left home the morning of his death as if going out to work.

His wife told the inquest: “He gave Kate a kiss goodbye and went. There was nothing unusual about it.”

The inquest heard how his step-brother David Maloney had later gone to look for him after no one had been able to contact him all day. He had been spotted in a field and Mr Maloney went to get a tractor to help look, but it was then he found Mr Houlihan’s pick-up parked outside a barn up a half-mile track.

Mr Maloney described his step-brother as never truly being satisfied with what he did.

“I’m sure he didn’t realise he had a lot of friends and family who would have helped him in any way,” he said.

Mr Houlihan’s wife told the inquest how her husband had been depressed in the past, but had been to the doctor’s and got anti-depressants which had lifted his mood. He had also given up his own business, she said, even though it had been a success.

“We had just had a baby six weeks before he died. He was so excited about being a dad,” she added.

No note had had been left, but she described how she had later found a draft text on his mobile that read: “To Alison and Kate. I’ve hit rock bottom. I will get help”

She said: “He never sent that message.”

Coroner Roger Whittaker said the evidence he heard at the inquest inferred Mr Houlihan’s intention and recorded a verdict that he had taken his own life.