A MOTHER suffering with depression took her own life in the family home.

Emma Elsey of Old Barn Way in Southwick was taking medication for post-natal depression after giving birth to her first child.

Her condition deteriorated and the 39-year-old was found dead on October 4.

She was divorced from her partner, but it was “amicable”, and her two daughters spent time with their father a few times a week, an inquest in Crawley heard.

Her daughter came home from school to find the door locked with a note asking her to call her aunt and dial 999.

Mrs Elsey was found hanged in her hallway that same day by the emergency services at 4.07pm.

Despite a good relationship with her daughters, sister and ex-husband, she was prescribed post-natal depression medication for life.

It is unknown whether or not she was still taking the medication around the time of her death, an inquest at Centenary House heard.

The post-mortem examination detected a moderate amount of ethanol in her blood, indicating she had been drinking before she hanged herself.

Assistant coroner for West Sussex Karen Harold said: “In an effort to prevent her children from entering the house she had a clear intention to take her own life.”

She said post-natal depression would have contributed to her decision, and had led to a “deterioration in her well-being”.

Ms Harold concluded that Mrs Elsey’s death was suicide by hanging.