A young soldier described as bright with plans for the future took his own life at his lodgings at an Army base.

Harry Brooker, 20, who had been following in his father's footsteps in the Royal Engineers, was found dead at the at Brompton Barracks in Gillingham last December.

The sapper, who hanged himself, was pronounced dead in the locked room by paramedics.

He left a note to family and friends saying he had been unhappy for some time and "couldn't cope".

Yet his close-knit family remembered him as having a sense of humour, very sociable with a good circle of friends, an inquest heard.

The weekend before he had visited his parents at their home in Swindon, Wiltshire, where he had expressed how he was looking forward to his leave over Christmas and New Year. Plans for his 21st birthday were discussed.

His father Colin Brooker, in a letter to coroner's court, said he was "his usual happy self" showing no signs for concern or anxiety.

Fellow sappers said he had been drinking more heavily following the recent death of a friend and the night before he had appeared drunk.

But toxicology tests showed he was well below the drink-driving limit and there were no drugs in his system.

Concern was raised when Mr Brooker did not turn up for a training course on the morning of December 11. Colleagues living in the same accommodation block knocked on his door, but there was no answer.

Military personnel unlocked the door with a master key and discovered his body on the floor.

Det Sgt Jay Robinson said there was no sign of third party interference or violence.

He added that it appeared that Mr Brooker had been dead for some time.

The inquest heard how Mr Brooker left school at 16 joined the Royal Engineers and had been on tours of Canada, Gibraltar and Croatia.

A fitness fan, he boxed for the Army and had plans to be a physical training instructor. In the long term he was looking to go to university and train to become a teacher.

Assistant MidKent and Medway coroner Katrina Hepburn, summing up at the Archbishop's Palace in Maidstone, said "this was a case of suicide" and not "a cry for help".

Miss Hepburn, in offering her condolences to the family, said she had dealt with many inquests of this type but added "this one I feel will stay with me".

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