The scene of the tragedyA WOMAN who died after throwing herself from the top of a 50ft car park had suffered years of mental health problems, an inquest heard.

Rachael O'Connor, 34, died from massive internal injuries in the Royal United Hospital, Bath, after plunging from the top of the Castle Place car park, Trowbridge, in March.

At an inquest held in Flax Bourton, Bristol, on Tuesday Avon coroner Terence Moore heard she had tried to take her own life several times before, after suffering from mental health problems, including drug and alcohol abuse, since her teenage years.

He said: "Rachael had a troubled life in her later teenage years and in her 20s and she suffered from alcohol abuse, delusions and depression.

"She had during that period attempted suicide by poisoning and had been found on top of the Clifton Suspension Bridge as well as taking at least two overdoses by alcohol."

The court heard Miss O'Connor, of Dovecote Close, Trowbridge, had a history of psychiatric problems dating back to the early 1990s.

She had been diagnosed with various conditions during her contact with health specialists including anorexia, bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder and depression,

She had been admitted to the Green Lane Psychiatric Hospital, Devizes, on three occasions during the 1990s and had been put on anti-depressants and anti-psychotic drugs.

The coroner heard Miss O'Connor's parents had searched around the world to try and find a cure for their daughter's problems, consulting experts in London, Jersey, Ireland and the USA to try and help her.

In February she was admitted to the RUH after taking an overdose of alcohol and paracetamol, after which she herself called an ambulance.

In the weeks before her death she had been receiving help from mental health services in Wiltshire and had been keeping in touch and showing no indication she was planning to take her own life.

On March 4 this year she went to the top of the six-storey car park and was seen climbing over the barrier and falling to the ground. She survived the fall but died later in hospital of massive internal injuries.

A police search of her home and the home of a friend where she had been staying revealed no suicide notes.

Returning an open verdict Mr Moore said: "Suicide is voluntary action taken which causes death and it is something that can never be presumed.

"She did jump but she did survive the fall and it may well have been that she was not in her right mind or that it was a cry for help."

Verdict: Open