The television presenter Mark Speight left two suicide notes before he hanged himself in an office building next to Paddington railway station, an inquest heard today.

At a brief hearing at Westminster Coroner’s Court, Mr Speight’s inquest was opened and adjourned after the formal identification of his body and a report from the post-mortem examination.

The 42-year-old television star had been thrown into turmoil by the death in January of his fiancée, Natasha Collins, at the flat they shared in St John’s Wood, northwest London.

Today Dr Paul Knapman, the Inner West London Coroner, said that there appeared to have been a “double tragedy”.

A hearing last month into Miss Collins’s death heard that she had take cocaine and sleeping tablets, and suffered burns covering 60 per cent of her body after apparently falling unconscious in a bath with the hot tap on.

Mr Speight was arrested in connection with her death but no charges were brought.

On the night of his fiancée's death he had gone to stay with her mother, Carmen, and it was she who reported him missing a week ago last Monday. His body was found six days later.

Detective Inspector William Jordan, of British Transport Police, confirmed that that the cause of death was hanging, and said that police were not treating the death as suspicious.

The court did not hear any details of exactly how long Mr Speight had been hanging, but the coroner asked Mr Jordan to direct further inquiries towards the likely date and time.

He also confirmed to the coroner that he was aware of two suicide notes — one found on the presenter’s person and another in a flat. He did not specify which flat but Speight’s address was given as 8 Penthouse, De Walden House in Allitsen Road — the address he formerly shared with MissCollins.

Adjourning the case, Mr Knapman said: “The full circumstances will be explored at the resumption of the inquest in what appears to have been a double tragedy and the date will be Tuesday, May 20, 2008.”

During the brief hearing, the coroner also read a statement from one of his officers confirming that the deceased had been formally identified yesterday as Mark Warwick Fordham Speight, born on August 6, 1965, in Wolverhampton.

The court heard that he had been identified as a result of documentation found on his person and registration details had been provided by his father, Oliver Speight.

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