A smoker stabbed himself to death only weeks after beginning a course of drugs to help him quit his 20-a-day habit.

Omer Jama, 39, a television editor, had no history of mental illness.

Yet when his body was found, he had slashed both his wrists and plunged the knife into his thigh and stomach, an inquest was told.

The drug he had been taking for two months, Champix, has been linked to depression and reports of suicide.

Yesterday the family of Mr Jama, from Bolton, called for more investigations into the safety of the drug after a coroner recorded an open verdict on him, saying it could not be proved that he knew what he was doing when he killed himself.

The inquest heard that Mr Jama, a video editor with Sky Sports, received a private prescription for the £164 course of treatment, which involved taking one tablet a day for a fortnight, then doubling the dose.

Mr Jama's wife of 12 years, Catherine, told the inquest in Bolton that the couple had recently begun a trial separation.

But they met regularly and he was his "usual self" and friends said he was happy in the days before his death.

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