AN unhappy schoolgirl took a fatal overdose of tablets after she became upset when her family home was put up for sale, an inquest heard.

Fifteen-year-old Hannah Westwood swallowed nearly 200 tablets after she drank cider earlier in the day. She had also told friends that she wanted to take her life.

Recording an open verdict, Teesside Coroner Michael Sheffield said: "Her intentions are by no means clear. She may well have done it out of bravado or it may have been a tragic teenage attempt to draw attention to herself."

Hannah's sister, Rachael Broadley, and two friends told the Middlesbrough inquest that she was upset at the sale of the family home.

Her mother, Marie Kelly, who was divorced from Hannah's father, had put the house in Byland Street, Middlesbrough, on the market after problems with a previous boyfriend.

Mrs Broadley told the inquest Hannah had normally been "a funny and bright girl who had a passion for singing".

School friend Petrina Pattison said: "She was upset about her mother selling the house and moving to another area. She has also spoken about suicide in the past."

Hannah was also upset when her sister moved out of the bedroom the two girls shared when she was about to marry.

Although her mother and father were divorced, the inquest heard that Hannah remained close to her father.

She took beta-blockers belonging to her mother's partner in the bedroom of her home in April last year.

The inquest heard that on the day she died, Hannah had got drunk with two friends on cider, which they persuaded grown-ups to buy for them from off-licences.

Suicide had been discussed in her class at school and she told friends Petrina and Katie Hunter that she was going to kill herself.

Mr Sheffield said that several hand-written notes were found in her room but they were undated and "somewhat ambiguous".

Hannah, who walked to the ambulance which took her to hospital, told her mother she was sorry for taking the overdose.