EXCLUSIVEBy Ted JeoryA DISTRAUGHT family paid an emotional tribute last night to a teenage daughter who was found hanged.The body Hannah Cockett, 15, was discovered hanging in an upstairs room at a house in Mill Road on Mersea Island.

EXCLUSIVE

By Ted Jeory

A DISTRAUGHT family paid an emotional tribute last night to a teenage daughter who was found hanged.

The body Hannah Cockett, 15, was discovered hanging in an upstairs room at a house in Mill Road on Mersea Island. An inquest into her death is due to open today.

The teenager's death - which is understood to have happened on Friday night - has shocked the island.

Grieving friends and relatives pinned flowers, poems and messages of sorrow onto railings near the home in Vince Close where the young pupil of Thomas, Lord Audley School in Colchester lived.

A family member said last night: “Hannah was lovely - the prettiest girl in Mersea.

“She had lots of friends and she was a really happy girl. After school or at the weekends she'd stay in and baby-sit so her mum could go out sometimes.

“She told me all her life she wanted to be a singer. She was excellent at it and loved dancing to rap, garage, hip hop and R&B.”

A close teenage friend of Hannah's, who did not want to be named, said she was missing her desperately.

“I knew her since she was a baby. She was really well-loved and she would not hurt or say a bad thing about anyone,” she added.

“She was bubbly and patient and would always be there to listen to your problems. She found time for everyone.”

An Essex Police spokesman said: “A girl was found hanging in a home in Mill Road. Officers at the scene carried out the necessary procedures.

“A post-mortem was carried out in the presence of police officers. The result was given as unaided suicide.”