A man texted a crisis helpline for people struggling with their mental health on the evening that he died in Dunwich, a court heard.

An inquest opened into the death of Martin Searle on Friday.

Mr Searle died on January 27, aged 40. 

The court heard that Mr Searle, who was originally from Cambridge, had texted the support service Shout on the evening that he died. 

Shout is a free, confidential text service which is available 24 hours a day for anyone in the UK who is struggling to cope. 

Users can text ‘SHOUT’ to 85258 to be matched with a trained volunteer, who will try to help the person struggling to find a calm and safe place with a plan of how to support themselves going forward. 

The court heard that Mr Searle had texted the service at 8.30pm, and indicated that he was driving to a café and “[didn’t] expect to wake up tomorrow”. The text was read at 9pm and police were dispatched to the location. 

The police arrived at his vehicle and found Mr Searle unresponsive.

Mr Searle's death was pronounced dead at 10.30pm. 

The inquest is expected to resume on November 9.