An "amazing” father sent a series of distressed texts to friends before taking his own life, an inquest heard on Thursday.

Michael James Anson, aged 36, was a prize-winning boxer, engaged to the mother of his baby son.

Pembrokeshire’s deputy coroner, Gareth Lewis, heard that in the weeks leading up to his death Mr Anson was struggling with financial and personal issues.

His fiancee Hayley Jones said, in a statement read out at the inquest, that Mr Anson became very quiet in the last few weeks and asked over and over if she was happy with him.

She said he would also hold back on saying things and ‘start to say things and then stop’.

Two days before his death the couple had had a ‘good talk’ but the next day he began saying that his fiancee and son would be better off without him.

The inquest heard that in the hours before his death Mr Anson sent a number of text messages to friends making it clear that he intended to take his life.

His friend Benjamin Thomas Evans tried to call and text him; he got no reply and drove into Haverfordwest to look for him. He found his friend near Haverfordwest Racecourse.

A post mortem found no traces of either drugs or alcohol in Mr Anson’s blood and gave the cause of death as hanging.

“It is clear from the evidence that at the time of his death Mr Anson had a number of personal issues he was struggling to cope with,” said the deputy coroner, concluding that Mr Anson had taken his own life.