POLICE officers have told why they let a farmer who was undergoing a relationship breakdown keep his guns, despite discovering he had tried to kill himself after a previous breakdown.

They told an inquest today that Glen Brough was laughing, joking, calm and pleasant when they went round to his home, and they were happy he was not going to harm himself.

Mr Brough, 36, of North Duffield, near Selby, told them he had sent a text message to his girlfriend saying he was not going to be around any more as a “prank” to get her to communicate with him.

They said he voluntarily handed over his gun cabinet keys, which were taken to Selby police station, and he was able to go there the following day to pick them up. Later that day, August 28, 2016, his body was found next to a shotgun.

Sergeant Nikki Hall said:”He was chatty and very pleasant. I had no concerns whatsoever. He was cooperative and helpful.

“He offered me the key. At that stage I didn’t have enough information to know whether they needed seizing or not so I agreed to take them off him.”

She said his suicide attempt after a previous relationship breakdown, which involved driving into a ditch, had been almost 20 years ago, and must have been assessed when he was given a firearms licence. The fact he had said he was going into town to buy bread and milk indicated he had future plans and gave her extra reassurance.

She said that on their way back to the police station, both she and PC Neil Brabbs, who had visited Mr Brough with her, had felt ‘completely happy he wasn’t going to do anything to himself.

Suggested by a lawyer for Mr Brough’s family that she had failed to properly assess the risk of self harm to him and to assess her powers to seize guns, she said:”I strongly contest that.”

PC Brabbs said of Mr Brough:”He was very chatty. He joked a lot.He did seem quite positive.”

The inquest continues.