A MOTHER who discovered her 30-year-old son hanged at his home thought it was a prank.

Phoebe Waine, aged 50, arranged to visit her son, Jason Carl Waine, and looked through the letterbox of his Walkden home when he did not come to the door.

Mrs Waine saw her son leaning against a door with a sheet around his neck at his home in Grosvenor Road last December.

She said that she expected him to "jump up and say, it's OK, I heard you," adding that she thought it was one of his "little pranks".

Structural engineer Mr Waine had separated from his wife, Lisa Waine, with whom he had three children, in August last year, and was going through divorce proceedings, the inquest heard.

Mr Waine's mother said she had a "positive" talk with her son earlier in the month. They discussed his future and that he made a list of things to do.

A statement from Lilian Hardman, Mr Waine's grandmother, said that in an earlier incident, he told her he had taken a lot of tablets.

"He said that he'd had enough and that he had no-one.

"I reassured him that he had family that were close to him," said Mrs Hardman.

His wife said: "I don't think he would have wanted to die."

A pathologist told the inquest that Mr Waine had between five and eight units of alcohol in his system, which could have impaired his judgement.

Bolton coroner Jennifer Leeming recorded an open verdict.

She said: "The evidence to reach any other conclusion is not available to me."

After the inquest, Mr Waine's father, Noel, aged 47 said: "He was a bubbly, happy go lucky lad and really family orientated. He loved his kids."