A Bradford soldier mentally scarred by digging up mass graves in Kosovo hanged himself years later in dread of a tour of Afghanistan, an inquest heard.

Corporal Hugh Cunningham signed up for the Army when he was 16. Two years later he was in Kosovo in eastern Europe where his duties included dealing with mass graves and cleaning out mortuary fridges after three weeks without power.

The Bradford hearing was told yesterday how “the dreadful things he saw” there triggered his depression.

The Royal Engineer had been seen by military psychologists 12 years ago. They diagnosed him with post traumatic stress disorder, but after a time he was declared fit and returned to duties.

Cpl Cunningham, who was 29 and lived in Bolling Hall Road, Bradford, would drink heavily and get depressed by personal problems, the inquest heard.

Before his death in August last year he was going through the break-up of a volatile relationship and had devoted much effort to arranging access to see his young son.

He had come home on leave to find his partner and son had left the family home and the house had been put up for sale, but he took it off the market.

On the day of his death Cpl Cunningham, who had also run up debts, had been seen on the phone at his local pub in an agitated state. A friend later got worried when he read a Facebook message he had posted and rushed to his house “braying the door and windows down” but getting no reply.

Shaun Nagy told the inquest he rang police shortly before midnight to get help but no-one came and he left at 3.30am. The next morning he described how police stormed into his flat asking where Cpl Cunningham was.

“I told them they had got it wrong and I had reported him missing so they went round to his house and came back later to tell me they had found him dead,” he said.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has been investigating the force’s response to concerns before Cpl Cunningham was found.

The inquest heard from his friends how he had not been looking forward to Afghanistan and how his hopes of a reunion with his partner had been dashed earlier that day.

“He looked as though he had swallowed a sword,” said Mr Nagy.

Another friend, Neil Scott, said he had seen Cpl Cunningham express two emotions that day for the first time – anger and tears. In particular he had mentioned Afghanistan to Mr Scott and told him: “You don’t understand. I’m not coming back alive.”

Cpl Cunningham’s sister, Dr Kathleen Cunningham, told the inquest how her brother “was convinced this time he was not coming back alive” and had been preparing a will.

She said: “He told me he was fed up of his car crash of a life and that he had been to his old house with the thought of hanging himself. I asked if he would do that again and he denied it.”

At the inquest his family described him as being “the life and soul of a party”. His father said he could not have wished for a better son.

His mother said nothing would ever “fill the emptiness” she felt now and he had left a massive hole in all their lives.

Recording his verdict, Coroner Roger Whittaker said Cpl Cunningham had been plagued with depression on and off since his time in Kosovo and that he had taken his own life while the balance of his mind was disturbed.