swallowing industrial strength sulphuric acid, a coroner ruled yesterday.

Coroner Ms Charles-etta Simmons ruled that Francis' death on January 16 in King Edward VII Memorial Hospital was caused by him swallowing the acid 12 days earlier.

Francis, of Cooks Hill Road in Sandys, was a janitor at Sandys Seconday School.

In his suicide note, he apologised to his family but said he could not go on knowing that his girlfriend was going to marry another man.

Dr. Melvin Bassett, headmaster of Sandys Secondary, found him in the janitor's quarters lying on his right side between a couch and a table around 8.20 a.m.on January 4.

He was lying in a pool of blood and vomit.

Dr. Bassett said he called the Police and an ambulance and noticed the suicide note on the table.

Det. Con. Dave Greenidge, who was one of the officers to arrive at the scene, said there was also a pink mug and a bottle of sulphuric acid on the table.

Longtime friend Jerome Crockwell, also of Cooks Lane, said in a statement that Francis, 55, was deeply involved in the church. But he started drinking heavily when he started having problems with his wife.

The couple separated in the early 1980s and Francis went to live with his daughter for a short time. They argued over his drinking so he moved out.

He got involved with another woman who he was planning to marry but their relationship turned sour after he was under suspicion for stealing money from the school.

Crockwell said in the statement that the last time he saw Francis alive was the previous Sunday, January 3, and at that time he was unhappy that his former girlfriend was about to marry another man.

Crockwell said Francis was supposed to come for dinner later that evening but never showed.

Crockwell said he was leaving home early the next morning and noticed the lights on in the school.

He thought it was strange because it was Francis' job to turn them out.

Dr. John Winwick, consultant pathologist at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, said an autopsy revealed Francis' heart was double its normal size.

"His lungs and windpipe were reddened, especially at the lower end and there was a lot of blood in his stomach and intestines,'' he said. "His death was consistent with the ingestion of a corrosive liquid.''