Speight 'left two suicide notes'

The 42-year-old was found hanging in a building next to Paddington railway station on Sunday, six days after he had been reported missing.

Speight had been left reeling by the death of his fiancee, Natasha Collins, at the flat they shared in St John's Wood, north west London in January.

He was initially arrested in connection with her death but no charges were brought. An inquest into Collins death heard that she had taken cocaine and sleeping tablets and suffered burns covering 60% of her body in a bath of hot water.

Inner West London Coroner Dr Paul Knapman said there appeared to have been a "double tragedy".

At a brief hearing at Westminster Coroner's Court, Speight's inquest was opened and adjourned following the formal identification of his body and a post-mortem.

Detective Inspector William Jordan, of British Transport Police, confirmed that a post-mortem had found that the cause of death was hanging and said police were not treating the death as suspicious.

He also confirmed to the coroner that he was aware of two suicide notes - one found on the presenter's person and another in a flat.

Following Collins death, Speight moved in with her mother, Carmen, who reported him missing last Monday.

The inquest, which was adjourned until May 20, did not hear any details of exactly how long Speight had been hanging. But the coroner asked Mr Jordan to direct further inquiries towards the likely date and time.