Teenager hanged from apple tree

10 March 2010

A DEPRESSED Congresbury teenager hanged herself from an apple tree in her back garden and left a note apologising to her parents, an inquest heard.

Dominique Crandon-Neary took her own life at her Honeyhall Lane family home after three years of misery, Flax Bourton Coroners Court was told.

The 19-year-old was found in a secluded spot of the grounds by her stepfather Steven Johns on the morning of September 1 last year while her mother and brother were on holiday.

A police search of her room revealed the letter, which read: "I'm sorry, I cannot cope any more."

The court heard that she was a troubled girl who had dark thoughts and contemplated suicide on a daily basis.

A statement from Mr Johns was read to the court, which said: "She found it difficult to leave the house or communicate.

"She tended to keep herself in her bedroom and didn't see friends at all."

The court heard that Miss Crandon-Neary, a keen violinist, had been down since the time of her GCSE exams.

She had received doctor's help for her depression for a year from March 2006 and subsequently left college.

The court heard she was considered to be at risk of hanging herself and had previously run away from home with belts, threatening to do so.

In a statement Dr DAG Cook, said the girl had described her grandmother, who died in 2006, as her rock.

Dr Cook, her consultant psychiatrist in the months leading to her death, said: "She said that since the death of her grandmother her sense of self had dissolved."

North Somerset deputy coroner Terrence Moore recorded a narrative verdict of death by hanging.