Three hours before committing suicide he rang his wife at work to tell her he was going for a walk because the weather was good.

David Lock, the head of UK acquisitions and finance at Allied Irish, said: 'The news of his death took me by complete surprise. Nothing leading up to the time indicated that there was anything untoward. He spoke positively of his personal circumstances and the future.'

Coroner Shirley Radcliffe recorded an open verdict.

She said: 'It's a little bit of a puzzle as to where he had been, what he was doing and how he had come to consume so much alcohol. There was no planning, he had no psychiatric history, he was obviously an intelligent, hard-working, professional, well-liked person.

'We are aware that working in certain areas of banking can be very stressful, but he seems to have managed for a number of years, coping with the stress.

'So it's a slight mystery, I'm afraid, and there is no sufficient evidence for me to be sure that he intended to end his own life.

'To be perfectly honest, with an alcohol content of that level, people do think they can do all sorts of things, such as fly or jump across the track.'