A Scottish aircraftsman hanged himself in his room at the base where he worked after cheating on his fiancee with an openly gay colleague, an inquest heard.

Oxford Coroner's Court was told that 24-year-old Robert Fleeting, who worked as a firefighter at RAF Benson in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, had killed himself after a drunken sexual encounter with another male co-worker, identified by the initials AB.

Charlotte Ward, a medic at Fleeting's base, told coroner Nicholas Gardiner that AB had confided in her after the incident, the Press Association reported.

'He said that they had gone back to his room and had a few drinks and stuff had happened,’ she said.

She added: 'They had sex.'

Fleeting, who The Daily Record reported was engaged, was discovered by fellow firefighters shortly after 12.30pm on 4 September, 2011, after he failed to show up for lunch with colleagues.

After going in search of him, Richard Daly and Gregg Metheringham found Fleeting, of Kirkdale in Glasgow, hanging with a knotted curtain around his neck, the court heard.

Toxicology results showed that Fleeting had alcohol in his blood and urine which was between three to four times the drink-drive limit and the coroner returned a verdict of suicide.