A man who ran over his mother-in-law after a family row hanged himself eight days later, an inquest has been told.

Only three months after his wedding, Craig Jordan, 23, had a row with the family of his wife, Laura, and hit her mother, Susan Curtis, as he drove off. Police held him for a weekend, and after he was bailed he became depressed and worried that he would be jailed for grievous bodily harm, the inquest was told.

He was found dead in the garage of his parents’ house in Pinhoe, Devon, in October last year. He hanged himself using an electric cable 24 hours before he was due in court.

Mrs Curtis suffered injuries to her head, body and legs and had to be freed by firefighters after she was trapped underneath Mr Jordan’s car.

His father, Paul, who found his son’s body, wept during the inquest.

Mr Jordan's widow, Laura, did not attend but claimed in a statement that she had later discovered two notes in an envelope on a bedside table at their flat that had been written by her husband.

But Paul Jordan told the coroner on oath that the notes were not in his son’s “scruffy handwriting” and said that his family had already gone through their flat a week after his death and found nothing.

Deputy Devon Coroner Darren Salter said that the notes, which had drawings on them, were “not suicide notes” and not relevant to the inquest.

He said: “I am satisfied Craig intended to take his own life. It is extremely sad and shocking for someone so young.”

Paul Jordan said: “The incident on the driveway was an accident. The police were going to drop the assault charges and replace them with motoring offences.

“They were only married three months — now he is buried at the same church where they were wed.”

“We have nothing to do with Laura or her family. I am disgusted with her. Those notes were not in Craig’s handwriting. We went through their flat which was above his grandparents’ home and never found anything on a bedside table. I don’t know where those notes came from.”

His family said that the couple spent “24/7 together” and the relationship may have been “too suffocating”.

The inquest heard that Mr Jordan had been drinking as much as a bottle of spirits a day and was on medication to keep him off alcohol.

There was no alcohol in his system when he killed himself and his doctor who had seen him just a few days before his death said that Craig Jordan had not expressed any suicidal thoughts.

The coroner returned a verdict of suicide.

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