'Man hung himself to be with dead pet'

A MAN who was found hanging from a dog leash yards from a suitcase containing the body of his pet left a note reading: "I've gone to be with Beaky."

An inquest heard that unemployed lorry driver Steven Anderson (44), whose body was found at Sitwell Golf Course, regarded his rough collie as a son.

“That dog was his life. It was like the son he never had,” Steven's father, Michael Gawthrop said.

Rotherham Coroner's Court head that Beaky had been put down on January 4 after Steven had walked into Wellgate vets A Crooks & Partners with a large suitcase to take the dog home in.

Veterinary nurse Liam Johnson said: “I thought this was quite unusual. Normally people just take them home in blankets.

“But Mr Anderson was very sincere. He said he was going to Scotland to work and Beaky couldn’t be rehomed because he was nasty with kids and other dogs.”

Steven's mum, Ann Gawthrop, said she last spoke to him on the phone three days before he died when everything had seemed normal.

The inquest heard that the former Royal Marine's took responsibility for Beaky after splitting up with his ex-partner Dawn Daily in 2006.

She said that he had begun sending her texts at the end of 2010, but when the messages became abusive she asked him to stop contacting her.

One message last December 30 had mentioned having Beaky put down. Mrs Daily said: “I thought he was just saying it to get a reaction from me so I ignored the message.”

Pc James Tongue said Steven’s Furnival Way home, Whiston, had been mostly emptied and most of the remaining items boxed and labelled with who they were for.

“There had been definite preparation for what he was going to do,” said Pc Tongue.

Pathologist Dr Leonard Harvey said that there had been a black scarf and part of a dog lead around Steven’s neck, adding that death would have been “if not then, almost instantaneous.”

The assistant deputy Rotherham Coroner, Mr Jonathan Godfrey, recorded a verdict of suicide.