LATEST NEWS: Bankrupt farmer dies after inhaling chemical

It is thought Bob Dearnley, who owed tens of thousands of pounds to organisations including the National Trust, took his own life by inhaling gas emitted from tablets dropped in water at his rented Surrey property.

He had become embroiled in a long-running court battle against several organisations, involving the National Trust and Guildford Council, who are thought to own the farm now being run as a rare breeds visitor centre used by local schools.

His spiralling debts and the prospect of being evicted from his home are said to have driven him into a deep depression.

Seven police officers who inhaled the noxious substance while trying to rescue the married farmer were taken to hospital for treatment.

They were called to Burpham Court Farm on the outskirts of Guildord in the early hours of this morning.

They found Mr Dearnley, who was in his 50s, already unconscious.

He was taken from a farm building and given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but died.

It is thought he killed himself by inhaling poisonous gas emitted from phosphaine tablets placed in water.

Seven officers who arrived at the farm after a 999 call to report a domestic incident' were taken to the Royal Surrey County Hospital.

The farm was run by Mr Dearnley, who is also known locally as Farmer Bob', and his wife Margaret.

In 2006 a court ordered him to pay the National Trust £100,000.

A deal that would see the money repaid upon Mr Dearnley leaving the property was brokered but he refused to leave, telling a local newspaper last year: "We won't be going anywhere. We're still fighting tooth and nail. My wife has not been made bankrupt and she's a tenant here. We're not going."

Burpham Court is normally open every day and takes groups of children from schools.

A message left on its answer phone today said: "We regret to tell you that today, Tuesday 26 May, we are closed. We hope to be reopened very shortly."

Businessman Richard Norris, who works nearby, said police had been at the farm on Monday.

"I came back from the Surrey County Show on Monday evening and there had to be at least six police cars up there.

"There was a group of foreign people in our car park. I don't know what they were doing but then I looked over the road and saw the police."

Mr Norris said he believed the farmer rented the property from Guildford Borough Council and had a "strained relationship" with the authority.

"I don't think he got on too well with the council. Once he came over here ranting about them. I don't know why. I don't think the council want him there. He was a bit of a cantankerous person."

A spokeswoman for the National Trust said: "There was a long and complicated involving other agencies and some of the money was owed to the Trust."