A WOMAN with a history of mental health issues “unexpectedly” hanged herself, an inquest has heard.

Elliot Furniss

A WOMAN with a history of mental health issues “unexpectedly” hanged herself, an inquest has heard.

Karen Caisey, from Clacton, was just 25 years old when she was found dead at her home in January.

She had fought with health and drug problems since her teenage years but had shown signs that she was putting the past behind her, her family told the hearing in Chelmsford.

After falling into depression upon losing her boyfriend at 18, Miss Caisey had a difficult time but her mother Helen told the inquest she had turned her life around in recent years and, at the time of her death, seemed to have “everything to live for”.

She said: “She had just won an award from the Prince's Trust for life-guarding and was about to move forward and have her dream job in outdoor pursuits.

“She had difficulties getting over the death of her boyfriend from a drug overdose. They had planned a life together.”

She said her daughter did not show “a lot of emotion” but despite family fears in the past that she might take her own life, her death came after a period of relative stability.

The inquest, held at new Bridge House on Thursday, heard that Miss Caisey's diary was discovered at her home and it contained no suggestions in recent entries that she had been having suicidal thoughts.

Assistant Deputy Coroner for Essex Chinyere Inyama said the verdict that sprang to mind was suicide, but he had not been satisfied enough that she had intended to kill herself, and recorded an open verdict.

He said: “I have to be sure to a certain standard that is what she intended to do. I'm not satisfied and absolutely sure that Karen Caisey intended to take her life.

“There isn't any evidence about what was going on in her mind and that she had thought through everything.

“I extend the court's deepest condolences on a very sudden and tragic ending that was clearly unexpected at the time.”