A SEVERELY depressed woman was discharged from the Haleacre mental health unit, only to kill herself days later.

An inquest on Thursday heard Nicola Edwards had made two previous attempts to take her own life before she finally hanged herself at home in St Hugh's Avenue, High Wycombe, in May last year.

In a statement read out to the court Jade Kelly, Miss Edwards' daughter, explained how she returned from work on May 16 to find her mother hanging from the bathroom door.

She said she first started to talk to her mother but she did not realise she was already dead.

Miss Edwards, who was aged 48 when she died, had been suffering from severe depression for a number of years and had also tried to take an overdose in 2001.

Early in 2003, when she was visiting family in Devon, she had jumped in front of a slow-moving train but managed to escape with minor injuries when the train passed over her.

After this incident, Miss Edwards was taken by ambulance to the Haleacre unit in Amersham.

Miss Edwards was subsequently discharged from the unit on May 8.

Although she was still deemed to be a suicide risk, she told staff that she had no intention of killing herself.

But consultant psychiatrist Dr Stephen Ogunremi told the inquest that he thought Miss Edwards had already made her mind up to commit suicide.

Dr Ogunremi said she "had made the decision" to kill herself and added "it would happen eventually".

He said: "All we did was delay it."

At the inquest the family expressed unhappiness that she had been sent home from the Haleacre unit. The family said she had told them privately she was still feeling suicidal.

Dr Ogunremi said Miss Edwards attended Haleacre as a voluntary patient and therefore could not be detained under the Mental Health Act because this would infringe on her human rights.

Coroner Richard Hulett recorded a verdict of suicide.