A young dad died after struggling with his mental health, an inquest has heard.

Joshua Atkinson, 22, was found dead on April 13 this year at his home on Harwood Crescent in Tottington.

At the time of his death, he was living alone, was not employed and had two children from two previous relationships.

An inquest into his death at Rochdale Coroners' Court heard that since his teenage years, Josh had suffered with his mental health.

His mum Gail Driver said in a statement that was read out in court that he was always “chasing his happiness”.

She said that she last saw Josh in January, and that he was expressing thoughts of "not wanting to be here".

Ms Driver advised him to go to his GP who found that he was suffering from depression.

He told his doctor that he was suffering from a low mood and felt deflated and overwhelmed.

After starting to take medication, it was said that his thoughts of suicide were less frequent.

On February 22, Josh called his doctor's surgery saying he was feeling low and was struggling more and had fleeting thoughts of suicide and self-harm.

A month later, in the early hours of March 28, Ms Driver received a text message from Josh saying he had been in Birmingham for a while because he wanted to get away from Bury due to issues with a partner.

The next contact she had from him was on April 6 when she received a text from him which said: “Goodbye mum, couldn’t even make it until 23.”

A friend of Josh’s said that on April 12 he went to Josh’s house where they drank and smoked, and Josh said he was fed up with his life.

The friend said this was a normal comment from Josh and they became close friends because they could discuss their mental health with each other.

On April 13, Josh messaged his friend asking him to come round so they could "smoke a joint together", however when he went round to his house there was no answer at the door or from his phone.

After managing to get hold of a spare key, he went in and found Josh unresponsive and called police before he was later pronounced dead.

Police found that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.

Ms Driver said that she did not really know the mental health triggers that her son had and they spoke very little due to an argument.

She said: “He had been saying this for years, I couldn’t force anything more. He was strong-willed in that way.”

Dr Emil Salmo conducted the postmortem investigation and concluded that Josh's cause of death was due to hanging, and that a toxicology report did not show anything unusual.

Coroner Michael Salt said that it was clear that Josh’s difficulties started in his mid-teens and as his mum said, “you can take a horse to water but you can’t make it drink”.

He said he believed Josh intended to end his life and recorded a conclusion of suicide.

Mr Salt also offered his condolences to the family.

Anyone can contact Samaritans free any time from any phone on 116 123, even a mobile without credit. This number won’t show up on your phone bill.