A former serviceman who became a Baptist minister died after driving hundreds of miles to a beauty spot and taking a lethal dose of drugs.Peter Ali, 41, left his home in Bildeston, saying he wanted to go for a drive, but he never returned.

A former serviceman who became a Baptist minister died after driving hundreds of miles to a beauty spot and taking a lethal dose of drugs.

Peter Ali, 41, left his home in Bildeston, saying he wanted to go for a drive, but he never returned. He suffered from depression.

The father-of-two drove hundreds of miles back to Hampshire, where he had served in the Royal Navy, and took a lethal dose of drugs at a beauty spot.

Mr Ali sent a text message to his wife Anne, 38, warning he was going to take an overdose, but she was asleep with her mobile phone switched off and did not receive the message, which said he had started taking tablets and asked her to phone him.

An inquest held in Portsmouth yesterday heard Mr Ali had taken four times the safe limit of paracetamol.

Portsmouth and south-east Hampshire coroner James Kenroy recorded a verdict of suicide after suffering from a depressive illness.

The inquest was told Mr Ali had left his home in Wattisham Road, Bildeston, at 11.20pm on July 6 and had sent his final text message just a few hours later at 2.19am.

He was discovered unconscious in his car in a country park just after 11am on July 7. He was taken to hospital where he died.

Mr Ali had served in the Royal Navy between 1976 and 1981 and had served in Northern Ireland and the Falkland Islands as a paramedic.

But he had suffered from depression since his friend dropped down dead next to him during action in Northern Ireland.