THE devastated parents of a Shapwick man who died the day after his birthday said they did everything they could to help him, an inquest heard.

Matthew Evans, 38, of Northbrook Drive, was found dead in his bedroom on July 3. Senior coroner Tony Williams read a written statement from Mr Evans' mother, Rosalyn Evans, who said her son had been struggling with depression after a court ruled that he could no longer see his son but had been taking medication to help.

"I wasn't worried about his depression," Mrs Evans said.

"He was making a memory box for his son for the day his son came looking for him when he was older.

"We went to Burnham-on-Sea for fish and chips on his birthday.

"He was a bit down, his birthday was never a good time for him."

The inquest heard Mr Evans had stopped taking his anti-depressant medication shortly before his death but did not seek help or advice from his doctor.

"He said: "I am getting my life back, I am getting my son sorted," Mrs Evans said. "I begged and begged him not to, to talk to the doctor but he didn't listen."

Mrs Evans said she and her husband, Ralph, took Mr Evans home at 3.30pm and said he seemed 'fine' when they left.

"After we dropped him off, he called me at 5pm as he did most days," Mrs Evans said.

"He thanked me for the day and apologised for putting us through all of this hurt and said 'this is as good as I will ever be'.

"I told him I would call him in the morning to check up on him as he didn't respond so I went to his house."

Mrs Evans said she is 'convinced' Mr Evans didn't intend to harm himself as he wanted to live for his son.

Speaking at the inquest, Mr Evans' father, Ralph, said: "We had no idea this was going to happen.

"Before this happened we used to garden together a bit, we did everything we could for him."

The inquest heard Mr Evans was found dead surrounded by a number of empty cans of lager but a toxicology report confirmed no alcohol was found in his system at the time of his death. The report also said Quetiapine was also found 16.38mg of the drug in his blood, which the toxicologist said was a 'high overdose' and was 16 times over the therapeutic limit.

A post mortem report confirmed Mr Evans died as a result of Quetiapine Toxicity.

The coroner then read a statement from Mr Evans GP who said he had a history of depression and PTSD and was prescribed the drug along with a number of others to combat his mental illness.

When concluding the inquest, Mr Williams, said: "The evidence has not fully disclosed how the cause of death arose.

"On July 3 Matthew Evans administered an overdose but his intentions have not been established.

"The evidence has not satisfied me enough for me to any formal conclusions."