A missing father died from multiple organ failure after drinking from a bottle of anti-freeze.

An inquest was told how Barry Lucas, 55, left his Newhaven home after a “family upset” and was then reported missing after he failed to turn up for work.

The alarm was raised after he was spotted by workers sitting in his van on the New Road industrial estate in Newhaven.

They called police at 2pm and told them the van had been in the car park since they arrived for work at 6.30am.

Officers found him slumped over the wheel barely breathing and called for an ambulance.

He was taking to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, where he died eight days later.

Detective Sergeant Simon Atkins said a half empty bottle of anti-freeze was found in the cab of the van.

Pathologist Dr Mark Taylor said that a large amount of ethylene glycol was traced in Mr Lucas’ blood.

DS Atkins said: “Barry was reported missing that morning but the report had not been finalised before he was found.

“A Police Community Support Officer was approached by a number of people who were concerned about a man who had been sitting in a van in the car park on the industrial estate.

“At that point two and two was put together and we believed it might have been Barry.

“He was removed from the van and given the care he needed until the ambulance arrived.

“Inquiries revealed that he had been there since at least 6.30am but could have been there all night.”

The detective said that bruises on the 55-year-old’s stomach and long-standing breathing problems had not contributed to his death and there were no suspicious circumstances.

Veronica Hamilton-Deeley, Brighton and Hove Coroner, recorded a narrative verdict.

She said: “From the evidence I have heard it is clear to me that after a family upset Mr Lucas left his home on January 18.

“He was reported missing early the next morning and was found at the New Road industrial estate in his work van.

“He was comatose and never regained any useful level of consciousness.

“Mr Lucas died following the deliberate ingestion of ethylene glycol.”

Mr Lucas's wife and daughter did not want to comment as they left the hearing.