Tributes have been paid to a "one-in-a-million daddy" following an inquest into his death.

Lee Ward, from King's Lynn, was found in his garage on May 14 having taken an act to end his own life. He was 37.

But after an inquest was concluded into his death, his partner of 14 years said she was determined for him to be remembered for more than just his struggles.

Rebecca Smith, the mother of Mr Ward's 10-year-old daughter, described her long-term partner as a "one-in-a-million daddy".

Lee Ward (Image: Rebecca Smith)

Every night, she and her daughter still say goodnight to the partner and father they tragically lost.

She said: "Lee had his struggles, but there was so much more to him than just his mental health.

"He was incredibly talented and skilled in woodwork - he could make anything fit anywhere."

During her evidence read to Norfolk Coroner's Court, Miss Smith said she felt Mr Ward had been "let down" by the wellbeing services of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.

The court heard his struggles with anxiety and depression were longstanding but that he had benefitted from a period on a mental health ward two years before his death.

In the months leading up the tragedy, he had been receiving counselling through the wellbeing service and was judged to be low risk.

But Miss Smith said she suspected he may have been telling professionals "what they wanted to hear" and questioned whether they should have been able to recognise when he was masking.

Area coroner Yvonne Blake concluded that Mr Ward had taken his own life, but that his intentions were unclear due to his mental health deterioration and the influence of alcohol in his system at the time.

She said: "He sounded like a lovely bloke and a great dad."

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