A finance manager hanged himself on a farm days after £250,000 worth of irregularities were discovered at the GP service where he worked, an inquest heard.
Anthony Atherton, 42, had worked for BARDOC, a firm which provides the out-of-hours medical and GP service for Rochdale, Bury and Bolton, for 15 years.
He rose through the ranks to the position of business and finance manager but last August he learned from a colleague that a review had uncovered financial irregularities at the service.
Three days later, he was found dead at Boar Edge Farm in Bury, Greater Manchester, where he kept horses which he owned.