Man hangs himself after being falsely accused of raping women and children

Ian Adams, 51, was suspended and then sacked from his job at a local IKEA store after his employers received a letter saying he had raped a woman and her two children.

The writer claimed to be a journalist on a local newspaper, but the name and address in the letter were false and the author has never been traced.

Police confirmed that Mr Adams, from Highams Park East, London, had never been arrested or convicted of a sexual offence or had any complaints made against him.

Mr Adams' life went downhill as he struggled to recover from the accusations.

He failed to get his job back after being sacked in January. His drinking led to problems with his partner and he spent the last few nights of his life sleeping in a storage shed at the bottom of the block of flats in which he lived.

A neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: "If it wasn't for that letter he would still be here, I am sure of it.

"He was happy and full of himself when he was working, he was more or less dancing on his way to work. But he went from working all day to doing nothing.

"He went down and down, poor chap, and we should have seen the warning signs."

Another neighbour, Darren Lupton, 34, said: "He was doing well, he was off the drink for a long time when he had the job, but when he lost it he was devastated."

Mr Adams worked for a contractor named Symonds employed by IKEA to collect trolleys. Both Symonds and Ikea appeared to blame one another for the loss of his employment. Ikea claimed that it had only suspended him from the premises until Symonds had carried out an investigation, while Symonds claimed that it had no choice but to let him go because Ikea would not let him work on its premises.