A MOTHER broke down as she told an inquest her soldier son killed himself because of the "evil world" he had seen while serving with the Territorial Army in Iraq.

Private Mark Dobson, 41, from Darlington, was serving with B Company of the Tyne-Tees Regiment, in Basra, on a six-month deployment.

An inquest heard he was found hanged from his rifle strap in his room at Basra Air Station on March 28 - two weeks before he was due home on leave. Pte Dobson left a suicide note to his parents, Jean and Arthur, in which he referred to "this evil world" and another to his TA colleagues saying: "Sorry to let you down, lads."

Giving evidence to Oxford coroner Nicholas Gardiner yesterday, Pte Dobson's mother Jean, 65, from Darlington, said his death had come "completely out of the blue".

She said: "He loved his job, he was really looking forward to going to Iraq. He said it was what he had been trained for."

Mrs Dobson said she spoke to her son, a paramedic based in Newcastle in civilian life, at least every week, and said he always appeared to be happy, and was always joking.

The inquest was told that she last heard from him on the Thursday before his death.

She said: "He normally rang on the weekend, but he rang in the evening and said he was going on guard duty and so would not be able to ring.

"It was his normal jolly weekend phone call."

Mrs Dobson said: "As far as I know, Mark was happy and popular. He had no problems and he was everyone's friend.

"I just cannot imagine for one minute what was worrying him."

Asked by the coroner if her son could have been badly affected by the situation in Iraq, she said: "He was quite serious-minded, and he would get very emotional about problems like world affairs and poverty.

"It was out of character because it was so serious. It was just the general situation in Iraq, there was something there bothering him. I just wish he had said.

"I just pray to God that we get some answers. I do not think he had thought it through, whether he realised the hurt he was leaving behind."

Lieutenant Mark Laverick, an officer with Pte Dobson's company, said he was a father figure to many men in his platoon.

He said: "He was very relaxed about things and generally a calming influence on the others."

Following Pte Dobson's death, his family paid tribute to his "perfect son", who loved life and was a hero to his three nephews.

Mr Gardiner, who recorded a verdict of suicide, said: "Something was clearly troubling Mark Dobson but, as his mother says, we shall probably never know exactly what it was."

To Pte Dobson's parents, he said: "I am sorry that we have not produced anything that you would consider to be an explanation."

Warrant Officer Pamela Reid, who investigated the death, said fellow soldiers noticed Pte Dobson becoming withdrawn in the days before he took his life, but said they never found out what was troubling him.

Mr and Mrs Dobson declined to comment after the inquest.