An electrician set up a device to electrocute himself in his hotel bed.

Staff at the Adastra Hotel in Hove suspected nothing when Stephen Brown checked in, taking a twin-bed room, an inquest was told.

But the self-employed electrician carried an array of tools which would allow him to hook himself up to the mains.

Hotel owner Marilyn Orford found the 42-year-old's body on his bed the next morning, the Brighton inquest heard yesterday.

Mr Brown, a married father-of-three, had run wires from a wall socket and junction box and taped them to himself.

A timer was wired up to the device which diverted the current from the mains through his body.

The hotelier told the inquest Mr Brown had checked in at about 6.30pm on April 27 and given an address in Bournemouth.

She said: "He was very unassuming and seemed a really nice chap.

"He just said he was working in the area."

After handing him the key to the room, Mrs Orford asked if Mr Brown was going out that evening.

He told her: "I've had a busy day and I'd rather just go to sleep."

Soon afterwards, one of the guests reported the lights on their floor had gone out.

Mrs Orford said: "It was not unusual. If a light bulb goes it trips them all."

When she came on duty the next morning, a member of staff told her Mr Brown had still not checked out.

A chambermaid was sent to check the room but failed to spot anything unusual.

Mrs Orford said: "She came down and said he was sleeping.

"I thought, 'It has got to nearly lunchtime,' and I went to check. I knocked and said, 'Room service'.

"There was no answer so I knocked again and there was still no answer.

"I opened the door with the master key."

Mr Brown was lying on the bed fully clothed with the cable connecting him to the wall socket. Mrs Orford said: "I looked at his feet and saw the cable and realised what had happened."

Dr Matthew Orde, of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, said tests showed Mr Brown was mildly intoxicated but not drunk when he died.

He gave the cause of death as electrocution and told the inquest Mr Brown had previously suffered from depression.

Police found two notes. One was an apology while the other was a warning to whoever found him not to touch his body before making sure the timer he had set was in the correct position.

The inquest had heard Mr Brown had been having problems gaining access to two of his children.

Coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley told the inquest Mr Brown was "obviously depressed" and recorded a verdict that he had killed himself.