Wales Assembly Member Carl Sargeant was found hanged in a room at his home after his wife read a note telling her not to go in, a coroner's court has heard.

The 49-year-old was found dead last Tuesday by his wife Bernadette, four days after being removed from his role as cabinet secretary for communities and children.

The father-of-two, from Connah's Quay, North Wales, was suspended from the Labour Party over allegations of "unwanted attention, inappropriate touching or groping".

Mrs Sargeant had gone downstairs and found a note on the door of her utility room in her husband's handwriting advising her not to enter but to call the police, Ruthin Coroner's Court heard.

John Gittins, Senior Coroner for North Wales (East and Central), giving details at the opening of the inquest into Mr Sargeant's death, continued: "Nonetheless she did go in and found her husband on the floor after an apparent act of self-harm."

Efforts to resuscitate him continued by Mrs Sargeant and family members along with paramedics until life was pronounced extinct.