A SOUTHAMPTON man who had become addicted to pornography texted police moments before he hanged himself to ensure his organs could be donated.

Winchester Coroners’ Court heardhow that Gordon Richards sent a message to police explaining his actions and to find him at his Clarendon Road home.

Emergency services rushed to the scene and were able to revive him but he had slipped into a coma, suffered significant brain injuries and died not long after.

A month earlier, the 29-year-old had been arrested, and his computer and mobile phone seized, for possession and distribution of indecent images of children. He was later released without charge while investigations continued.

At the time of his arrest, Mr Richards had been seen by a mental health nurse in order to assess his wellbeing but was not deemed to be suicidal.

Police staff investigator Danielle Watt. from the Internet Child Abuse team. said: “He was co-operative and understood the reason for his arrest. On the drive to the police station, he was relatively chatty.”

Mr Richards lived alone and worked night shifts as a senior technical officer for Network Rail.

His mother, Nicola, said: “He was on a different pattern to everyone else. When he was available, everyone else was at work. He found it very difficult to maintain any relationships or friendships. He was very introverted and bottled everything up, and it was very hard to get him to talk to us about his problems.”

While searching Mr Richards’ home, police found a series of notes.

In a rare act, Senior coroner Grahame Short chose to read an extract from a letter Mr Richards addressed to police and government agencies as he said that it made for very poignant reading and was extremely relevant to the case.

It read: “Thank you for treating me with respect.

The cost was high but thanks to you I am free from my addiction to pornography that has led me to some very dark places.”

Mr. Short said:”It was clearly his intention to take his own life and it was clearly planned in advance.”

“Gordon was a very private person to me, he found it impossible to share his woes with his family or anyone else.

Ultimately it is up to the individual to want to get help.”

Mr Short concluded that Mr Richard died as a result of suicide.