A young chef hanged himself in the hotel he was working in – just hours after enjoying an evening with friends.

Jordan Brereton, a 21-year-old doting dad, had been left devastated after the deaths of his step-mother and father within just a few weeks of one another in late 2017.

Bradford Coroner’s Court heard evidence that he idolised his father with his sister Frances Brook saying “his dad was his hero. He was lost without him.”

In a statement by his friend Andrew Ward, read by coroner’s officer Bernard Tate, he said he had known Jordan for four years since he was a junior chef.

And after hearing about what had happened he got in touch, invited him out for Christmas drinks and in February Jordan starting working again at Healds Hall Hotel, Leeds Road, Liversedge.

As he had no accommodation he was allowed to stay in a room at the hotel while he looked for a flat.

Mr Ward said that on June 9 he got a late table in and the team didn’t get finished until 11pm.

A few members of staff including Jordan stayed up and enjoyed a few drinks and some chit-chat before going to bed at 1am.

Healds Hall Hotel, Leeds Road, Liversedge

He said Jordan was not due to work the next morning, June 10, and so there was no immediate concern when the “notoriously heavy sleeper” failed to respond to bangs on the door of the store room in which he was sleeping.

However, Mr Ward said that despite deliberately setting off the smoke alarm to try to wake him, Jordan failed to appear, and with time pressing to retrieve some table covers from the room, he forced the door.

He said: “As I was looking round I saw him between two metal cages. At first I thought he was hiding from me.”

Eventually he found him and police were called.

He said that although he had seemed a bit quiet the previous evening “he seemed happy and taking the mickey out of people as usual. He was telling me about his plans to see his son, the next day.”

Earlier, Mrs Brook in a statement read by Mr Tate revealed a suicide note had been found.

She said that as she went through Jordan’s belongings: “I found a letter in the only suitcase that belonged to our dad in a small zip compartment at the back of the outside of the case where Jordan knew I would find it.

“This is 100% Jordan’s writing and he wrote in what was a heart-breaking time.”

Assistant coroner Kirsty Gomersal concluded that he had taken his own life.

Looking at his 10 family members she said: “Jordan was a very lucky young man to have such a group of friends concerned about his welfare. I hope you can remember Jordan in much happier times.”