A 25-year-old man who hanged himself in a Battersea address was broken-hearted after splitting up with his girlfriend a coroner's court heard today.

Engineer George Paul Howarth, of Prince of Wales Drive, was found hanging in his bedroom after a night out in central London during which he had taken cocaine and alcohol.

Westminster Coroner's Court heard that before he killed himself, the music fan texted ex-girlfriend Charlotte Wilson saying: "Baby I hope you understand why I have done this.

"I want to die it hurts. There is nothing left here for me, tell mum and dad that I love them."

Miss Wilson said she woke up to 50 texts and missed calls, and thought she had not heard from him because he was trying to make her feel guilty.

Mr Howarth had been out with friends in Kennington on October 29 last year.

The project engineer, who moved to London from Burnley 10 months before his death, met up with friend Inam Udo-Udoma in Privee, Knightsbridge, at 3am.

They went back to Mr Howarth's ground floor flat at 6.30am and stayed up listening to music with a flatmate.

Mr Udo-Udoma went to sleep in the spare room and went back to Mr Howarth's room just after 1pm to find the door jammed.

He pushed it open and found Mr Howarth.

At first he thought he was playing a joke then tried to perform CPR, before calling for an ambulance.

Mr Udo-Udoma said in a statement read out in court: "At first I thought he was playing a practical joke, it was dark and I thought he might wake up.

"He and his girlfriend had broke up recently, he seemed to be dealing with it by keeping his social diary full."

The coroners court heard he did not suffer from depression, and was the life and soul of the party with lots of friends.

Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox recorded a verdict of suicide, while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

She said: "I think it is sad how young people in this society don’t understand how dangerous the mix of alcohol and drugs can be. For him to lose his life this way is tragic."

Parents Steve and Maureen Howarth said they hoped the inquest would raise awareness of the danger of taking drugs.

Mrs Howarth said: "We want now for young people to look at what they are doing with their lives. We know this is not going to be simple because the social scene is fuelled by drugs and alcohol.

"We are all hurting very much ,so are his two grandmothers, uncles, cousins and all his friends."

The family has so far raised £1,400 for mental health charity MIND in memory of Mr Howarth.