Dr Richard Stevens had been having an affair since January 2001
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A doctor whose disappearance sparked a national manhunt killed himself because he could not cope with the stress of a secret affair, a coroner has ruled.
Dr Richard Stevens, 54, of Sale, Greater Manchester, disappeared after arriving for work on 21 July, 2003.
The consultant paediatrician's body was found in a disused slate mine in the Lake District nearly six months later.
On Thursday an inquest in Barrow-in-Furness heard the doctor had had a two-and-a-half-year affair before he died.
Dr Stevens was last seen by CCTV cameras at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital in Pendlebury where he worked as a consultant paediatrician.
He had arrived at 0710 BST at the hospital, where he had worked for 20 years, parked his car, left his jacket and briefcase in his office and disappeared.
After he vanished, the case attracted massive interest from national media who reported every lead in the search for Dr Stevens.
Officers followed up several unconfirmed sightings of him, including one from a woman who says she gave him a lift in Devon.
A tourist was mistaken for the doctor after he was caught on CCTV at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
The doctors' wife, Eirwen Stevens, said she was convinced the man on the video was her husband.
Police also followed up reports that he had boarded a train from Manchester Piccadilly to London on 22 July.
His body was eventually found by walkers on the Old Man of Coniston, above Coniston Water, on 6 January this year.
The inquest was told Dr Stevens killed himself by injecting a combination of two drugs - Propofol, a hypnotic sedative and Atracurium, which acts as a muscle relaxant.
Drugs, syringes and medicine boxes from the hospital were found at the scene.
South Cumbria coroner Ian Smith heard a woman had contacted police three days after Dr Stevens went missing to tell them she had had an affair with him since January 2001.
Det Sgt Mike Jackson, of Greater Manchester Police, said the family were aware of some sort of relationship but thought "it had not really started".
'Stressful job'
He said it became clear the woman's partner had been putting pressure on her to expose the affair and "bring it out into the open".
He added Dr Stevens' wife, Eirwen, had told police she had had an argument with him the night before his disappearance.
But, Mr Jackson said, the argument had played a "minor" part in his disappearance.
When interviewed, his daughters, Helen and Rebecca, said they had noticed "little things" that suggested their father was distracted.
Dr Stevens' colleagues at the hospital said he had not showed any outward signs of stress in what was an "extremely stressful job" Mr Jackson said.
He added: "What we found was that he was a much respected doctor who probably became too emotionally involved with his patients."
In recording his verdict, Mr Smith said Dr Stevens had taken his own life.
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What we found was that he was a much respected doctor who probably became too emotionally involved with his patients.
