A window cleaner died after repeatedly stabbing himself in the leg with a giant pencil.

Jeffrey Burton's body was found in a blood soaked room at his home in St Leonards with a gash to his upper right thigh and an oversized souvenir pencil covered in blood next to his ankle.

The 57-year-old, who ran his own window-cleaning business, died from loss of blood.

But last night it remained a mystery how Mr Burton had died - with a coroner admitting he was baffled as to what had happened.

An inquest at Hastings was told Mr Burton, of De Cham Road, had no history of suicide attempts and was looking forward to going on holiday.

His calendar for the next month was filled with routine appointments and arrangements to meet friends.

Mr Burton's sister, Patricia Goodsell, told the inquest the jumbo pencil had belonged to their mother, who died in 2008, and that her brother had used it in yoga-like exercises.

The victim’s only history of mental illness was a psychotic episode in 2006, when Mr Burton heard voices after returning from a holiday in Spain, and was admitted to the now-closed Woodlands mental health unit.

With no suicide note, his death on September 27 remains a mystery to family and friends.

Mr Craze recorded an open verdict saying there was no evidence he was trying to commit suicide.