A pair of troubled friends took a cocktail of painkillers and cannabis before killing themselves in a smoke-filled car, an inquest heard today.

Paul Williams, 38, and Christopher John Howe, 32, who were friends for 15 years, took their own lives in Mr Howe's Vauxhall Astra in March this year.

Williams, a father-of-two from Hart Crescent, Blackhall Rocks, Co Durham, had finally decided to end a stormy relationship with his pregnant partner, Vicky Ward, when it happened, the hearing was told.

Howe, a father-of-four from East Street, Blackhall Colliery, also in County Durham, was worried about possibly going to jail over assault allegations relating to an incident last year, the coroner heard.

Medical evidence showed high levels of cannabinoids and pain relief drugs - a combination which itself was potentially fatal - in both men's bloodstream at the time.

The inquest at County Hall in Durham City heard it would have left them ''almost drunk'' and unable to respond as the lethal effects of the carbon monoxide poisoning sunk in.

Their friend, and Mr Howe's neighbour, Robert Atherton, wept as he told the hearing how he had spent what seemed to be a ''normal'' evening at his home with both of them watching videos and drinking the night before the incident.

He said: ''Paul was my best mate. They were great lads, great personalities. They were very loving and looked after their families.''

He said Mr Williams had been in a long-term relationship with Miss Ward, but that it had always been fraught with problems. Mr Williams had tried to take his own life before, in September last year.

Mr Atherton added: ''There were constant problems which spanned the whole length of the relationship and I was always there to pick up the pieces. When Vicky was arguing she would kick him out. He used to stay at my house.''

They already had one child but Mr Williams was not the natural father, he added, and he had just discovered that Miss Ward was again pregnant by another man.

He added: ''That was the reason he came to live with me. It was the fact he couldn't take any more.

''This time he said he was definitely never going back. Enough was enough.''

The night before the double suicide, the three men had been ''talking, laughing and joking'', Mr Atherton said.

It was around half-past-one when he went to bed, but the other two stayed up and he asked them to lock the door at the end of the evening.

''They turned around and there was a pause,'' he said. ''They said 'We are going for a drive and we'll see you later'. That was the last time I saw them.''

The next morning Mr Atherton said he came downstairs and found the kitchen door unlocked and the car in his back yard running with a hose pipe attached to the exhaust, running into the vehicle.

He said: ''I walked up to the car. That's when I saw Paul and Chris. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.''

Mr Howe's wife, Gemma, who he married on Christmas Eve last year, told the coroner how he had been ''a good husband and a good dad''.

She added: ''He could be a bit stubborn but he had a heart of gold. He was a born worrier.

''Last September he had been assaulted by a few people and he got charged for it. The case was called at Teesside Crown Court and he was really worried about going to jail.''

She said Mr Howe was also concerned about money and being able to provide both for her and four children he had had with his previous partner of 16 years, with whom he had split up two years ago.

On the day before the suicides, Mrs Howe said she and her husband had been at home together, but the day had been repeatedly interrupted by phone calls from Mr Williams.

She said: ''I don't know what the conversation was, I wasn't listening. At tea-time I started asking what was going on. ''I became a bit suspicious. It wasn't usual for Paul to ring every half an hour.''

She added that later Mr Howe had gone out and that was the last time she had seen him.

The hearing also heard that Mr Williams had a child with a previous partner, Louise Williams, and that he was estranged from Miss Ward at the time of his death.

North Durham coroner Andrew Tweddle ruled that the pair had taken their own lives, describing it as a ''tragic situation''.

He added: ''It is clear that they set out that early morning to take their own lives and that is in fact what they did. I have got to record that they both took their own lives.''