A WELDER committed suicide on the day he was due in court to face rape charges, an inquest has heard.

Police found David Gary Thomas's body in his Garden Village house after he had failed to turn up for court for the start of his trial

The 41-year-old was found hanging in the first floor landing of his Oak Street house.

An inquest in Swansea heard that Mr Thomas — who was known as Gary — had always maintained his innocence in the sexual offences case.

Sergeant Desmond Mackrill, who investigated the death on behalf of the coroner, said he had been asked to go to Mr Thomas's address on July 20 last year after the defendant had not appeared in court.

The officer said he found the first floor windows open and Mr Thomas's car parked outside, but could get no answer at the door.

When he forced his way into the house he found the body, and a note.

A post-mortem examination confirmed the cause of death as hanging, and toxicology tests showed there were no significant levels of drugs or alcohol in his system.

Coroner Philip Rogers said: "Mr Thomas hadn't taken anything therefore that would have affected his state of mind."

The inquest heard that former Gowerton Comprehensive pupil Mr Thomas had worked for many years as a welder and fabricator at Dragon Engineering.

Then, in September 2008, CID officers launched an investigation into allegations of sexual offences, resulting in six charges being laid in April the following year.

When he failed to attend court in July last year an arrest warrant was issued.

Recording a verdict of suicide, the coroner said: "We cannot make any assumptions about Mr Thomas's guilt from the fact that he was found dead."

jason.evans@swwmedia.co.uk