Alexander McQueen’s last note: I’m sorry, please look after my dogs

Fashion designer Alexander McQueen left a note saying "I'm sorry" before he took his own life.

The 40-year-old was found hanging by his belt in his wardrobe on February 11. Today an inquest into his death was told how McQueen told his family he loved them in a note on the back of a book.

He wrote: "I am sorry ... please look after my dogs. Sorry ... I love you ...Lee." His laptop displayed a web page with the question: "When someone slits their wrist, how long does it take before they die?"

McQueen was found dead in the spare bedroom at his Mayfair house at 9:40am by his housekeeper Cesar Garcia. The inquest, at Westminster coroners' court, also heard that McQueen had a long history of depression, self-harming, substance abuse and insomnia.

The suicide was the day before the funeral of his mother Joyce. McQueen had been overwhelmed by grief as he felt there was that one link that was gone from his life and so he had very little to live for."

His psychiatrist Dr Stephen Pereira said the designer was diagnosed with mixed anxiety and depressive disorder. He said: "He certainly felt very pressured by his work, but it was a double-edged sword. He felt it was the only area of his life where he felt he had achieved something."

Dr Pereira added that McQueen had twice before tried to take his life, once in May 2009 and again in July 2009 but that they were "more like cries for help". "He was very close to his mother. A post-mortem examination found the causes of death were asphyxia and hanging. Coroner Paul Knapman ruled that McQueen had "killed himself while the balance of his mind was disturbed."

Dr Knapman added: "It seems that he had a history of self-harm and, no doubt fuelled by cocaine, he resorted to desperate measures to end his life. It's such a pity for a man who, from a modest start, climbed to the top of his profession only to die in such tragedy."