A FAMILY has been left with questions unanswered as to why a man took his own life in a wooded area of a Bournemouth park.

Andrew David Budden was found by police in Queen's Park in September last year, three days after a missing person report had been made by his mother.

Assistant coroner for Dorset Brendan Allen said the family had been left with "legitimate questions" as to the reasons for the "tragic situation".

An inquest at Bournemouth Town Hall on Tuesday, October 6, heard that Mr Budden, who lived in Walpole Road, Boscombe, with his fiancée, had gone to work as a factory engineer in Blandford on the morning of Thursday, September 5, 2019, as normal.

However, the 39-year-old father-of-one never returned home later that day. As concerns grew amongst his family, they reported him missing to police shortly after 11.30pm.

Officers launched their inquiries in an effort to locate him.

Inspector David Parr told the inquest phone signal data led Dorset Police to believe Mr Budden was in the Bournemouth area.

The officer conducted searches on Sunday, September 8, 2019, and located Mr Budden's car at 10.35pm in Linkside Avenue near Queen's Park.

The vehicle was near an entrance to the woods and this seemed the most likely place a person would go after leaving their car, Inspector Parr said.

A police dog handler found Mr Budden hanging. Paramedics attended the scene and confirmed his death at 11.47pm.

Mr Budden's mother Jennifer told the inquest she had not had any concerns about her son's mental health.

She last saw him on Wednesday, September 4, 2019, when he was at her home with his daughter.

Ms Budden said her son was quite excited about the prospect of getting a new job.

Oksana Akliene, Mr Budden's fiancée, said he had suffered from bad headaches and was regularly taking painkillers to alleviate them.

She said he also experienced "quite a lot of stress" at work and confirmed he was looking for a new job.

A post-mortem provided a cause of death as hanging.

Mr Allen said Mr Budden had a loving family and was very close with his daughter.

He loved the outdoors, having been part of the Scouts as a child, and had interests including Viking reenactments, physics, science fiction and tabletop games like Warhammer.

Reaching a conclusion that Mr Budden died by suicide, Mr Allen said: "This is a tragic situation with a family now without a loved one, parents without their son, a brother without his sibling, grandparents without their grandson, daughter without her father and Miss Akliene without her fiancé and with legitimate questions as to why.

"But sadly that is not a question I can answer and, in fact, it is not a question the inquest seeks to answer."

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