A PRIMARY school teacher killed herself on a railway track after battling depression and thyroid problems, an inquest heard.

Debra Lovett, 37, left her family home early on July 31 last year and walked to the railway line near Billingham Beck Valley, on Teesside.

When a train approached shortly before 9am, she emerged from nearby bushes, walked onto the track and faced the engine.

Train driver Kevin O’Leary told Teesside Coroner’s Court yesterday that he was accelerating at about 50mph when he saw Mrs Lovett in front of him.

He slammed on the brakes and sounded the horn, but she did not move. Instead, she crossed her arms across her chest and stood still. He said there was no way his engine could have avoided her.

Mrs Lovett died immediately.

The jury heard that Mrs Lovett had known her husband, Jeremy, since 1986.

They lived in Hillside, Norton, near Stockton, from 1993 and were married in 2000.

She seemed happy and healthy. However, Mr Lovett, who now lives in Devonshire Street, Stockton, said that in 2004 his wife developed a thyroid problem.

In the months leading up to her death, she began to suffer from severe depression, which led her to attempt two overdoses last January.

She had been placed under the care of a consultant psychiatrist, but after showing a marked improvement, she was discharged back to her GP. A few weeks later, she took her life.

Mr Lovett said: “I would often wake up and she would not be there. She used to go out for walks in the early hours.”

He said he had woken up at 3.30am on July 31 and found her gone. He had grown concerned when she had not returned by 7am.

He said. “I got on my bike and went looking for her everywhere.”

PC Ryan Griffiths, of British Transport Police, said when he arrived at the scene he found a duvet in the bushes and a handbag containing Mrs Lovett’s belongings.

There was a letter addressed to her husband, and a best wishes note, along with a map of the area.

The jury returned a unanimous verdict that Mrs Lovett killed herself.