A HUSBAND discovered his wife's body after she shot herself with a 12-bore shotgun, an inquest has heard.

Brian Williams had been using a noisy garden-vacuum cleaner to clear leaves from the garden while his wife, Margaret, had been inside.

"He had thought for a moment that debris from the leaves had struck the window of the room where his wife was," said coroner Victor Round.

After this, Mr Williams had gone back inside their home in Bluntington, in Chaddesley Corbett.

"He had gone in to speak to his wife but found her in a room lying on her back with the 12-bore shot gun by her side," said Mr Round at the inquest on Tuesday, February 4.

"The shotgun had caused her severe head injuries."

Mrs Williams, aged 60, died on Saturday, October 20 of last year.

Mr Round said no suicide note had been found and Mrs Williams had a history of depression and self-harm.

"In October she took a small overdose, and said she had done and received treatment," said the coroner.

Police forensics were also satisfied from the evidence that Mrs Williams could have shot herself.

Mr Round recorded the verdict that Mrs Williams had taken her own life.