The head of English at a prep school attended by Prince Charles killed himself after being accused of a “serious sexual offence”, an inquest has heard.

David Cageao, 47, took his own life in a forest near his home in Newbury, Berks, on the same day he was interviewed by police about the allegation, which is said to have taken place more than a decade ago.

Mr Cageao was head of English at the £30,000 a year Cheam School, where the Prince of Wales was a pupil for five years from the age of nine.

The married father-of-two said in a suicide note that the “future looked bleak” and there was a “great chance” that he would end up in prison following the accusation, a coroner was told.

Mr Cageao started working at Cheam School in 2018 and was described as “popular” by the former headmaster, Martin Harris.

An inquest into his death in Winchester heard that an allegation was made about him in 2020 to Devon and Cornwall Police from when he was a “teacher at a school in Devon” sometime between 2007 and 2008.

Neither the name of the school nor the nature of the alleged offence were disclosed at the hearing.

Mr Cageao was suspended by Mr Harris on October 8, 2020 while matters were investigated and was dismissed in February 2021.

On June 4, the day of his death, a police officer had interviewed him.

Hampshire Area Coroner Jason Pegg recorded suicide as his cause of death.