A RESPECTED and well-liked policeman who lived in St Albans until his marriage broke up suffocated himself in his car with exhaust fumes.

St Albans Coroner's Court heard on Monday that more than 300 police officers attended the funeral of Mr Vivian Francis, 41, who died in the car park outside his flat in Cole Green Lane, Welwyn Garden City on April 10.

Since separating from his wife and two children, Hannah, now 14, and Lucy, now aged ten, in 1999, when they had moved from St Albans to the Isle of Man, he had turned to drink and suffered from depression and stress.

Mr Francis had moved to Welwyn Garden City and not seen his family since.

A neighbour, Mr Laurence Bell, found Mr Francis' Alpha Romeo, filled with fumes and with the engine running, in a corner of the car park behind the flats as he was leaving for work at 7.45am.

A pipe led from the exhaust to a back window with a jumper sealing the gap, and Mr Francis was lying dead in the driver's seat, which was reclined back.

A bottle of wine, a glass and a corkscrew were on the front passenger seat, where Mr Francis had laid out the prescriptions for his anti-depressants to make it obvious what had happened.

His brother Chris said: "I spoke to him on the phone at about 2am.

"He seemed pretty good that night, unlike the previous night.

"I had a suspicion he did not take his medication.

"I think drink played a significant role in the turn of events."

His GP, Dr Sawyer, told the inquest in a statement Mr Francis had been signed off work for several months for stress, caused by work, financial difficulties, and his brother's diagnosis with cancer, but he had returned to his police job in London on March 11.

He had tried to kill himself with exhaust fumes once before, in 1988.

This occurred after his father's suicide in 1985, but he denied to his doctor he was thinking of harming himself again.

Mr Francis, who was born in Zimbabwe and lived much of his early life in South Africa, worked in the Islington and Holloway divisions of the Metropolitan Police.

The inquest heard how his marriage had started to go wrong after his mother's death from cancer, which affected him deeply.

And, coroner Edward Thomas, as he recorded a verdict of suicide, added that: "It must have been absolutely devastating for his family."

July 5, 2002 10:00