Samantha Janus’s father found hanged

The father of the EastEnders actress Samantha Janus has been found hanged in an apparent suicide. Noel Janus, 60, who was the brother of George Best's ex-wife Angie and a former songwriter who worked with bands such as Fleetwood Mac, was believed to have been suffering from depression.

Samantha Janus, 36, who plays barmaid Ronnie Mitchell in the BBC1 soap, reportedly had a strained relationship with her father, who left the family when she was just six years old. Three months ago Noel told how being cut out of an OK! magazine photo spread of her wedding was "like a dagger to the heart". OK! magazine later confirmed Janus had chosen which photos were published.

Yesterday the 36-year-old actress was photographed in floods of tears, after she and her husband, actor Mark Womack, visited Noel Janus's one-bedroom council flat in Brighton, where he died. Janus was too upset to talk to the media as she took away a few belongings.

Sussex Police were called to the flat by an ambulance crew early on Saturday afternoon. A police spokesman said: "The death is not being treated as suspicious. An inquest will be held in due course." ·