AN inquest has heard tributes to a much-loved father who died earlier this year.

The body of Ashley Myles Todd, from Copeland, was discovered in a stable block overlooking St Bees on April 13, 2022.

The 'wonderful father and friend to many' was born on April 3 in 1980 at West Cumberland Hospital and was the middle of three children to Myles and Anne Todd, the inquest heard.

Myles Todd, Ashley's father, described his son as a fighter having overcome pneumonia and measles in his very early months of being born.

He left school at 16 years old and was immediately offered training to be a mechanic after a single week of excelling at work experience.

His love of automobiles grew and at the age of 21, Ashley would become involved in Strawberry Racing at Sheffield - a karting distributor.

A few years after, Ashley's own business AMT Karting was born - which grew and grew and allowed Ashley to travel the world.

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He met his wife Kate around 18 years ago and they got married in 2009 to which they had two 'beautiful' daughters.

The inquest heard how the 'wonderful father' was dedicated to both his children, making sure he was always spending time with them any time the opportunity arose.

Kate spoke about how some of the best times they had as a family together where during lockdown.

In a statement she descibed him as her 'soul-mate' and said her teenage daughters had lost their 'much-loved father'.

The inquest heard that no alerts had ever been made that the loving father-of-two was struggling with his mental health. 

On April 11, two days before his death, the father took his teenage daughter to Blackpool for a trip.

On the morning of April 13, Kate woke up to a message in the early hours from Ashley, which left her confused as she would never deem Ashley as someone who would take their own life, but he said "I had not been right for the last two years".

Ashley had been a keen gun enthusiast all his life, and police who attended the scene were alerted that a shotgun was missing from his cabinet. 

The toxicology report revealed there was no substances to impact his decision.

Paramedics at the time said Mr Ashley had suffered 'obvious and catastrophic injuries to the head'.

The coroner Kirsty Gomersal concluded that Ashley died as a result of a deliberate act in which he intended to take his own life.

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