A FORMER Colchester schoolgirl died from an accidental overdose, a coroner ruled.

Mum-of-one Lucy Simms, 26, died after taking a fatal amount of a legal high which was banned just six days after she took it.

The former Gilberd School student, whose father Brian and friends still live in Colchester, moved to Southampton to pursue a modelling career six year ago and began experimenting with drugs.

She died in June last year.

Hampshire's Coroner Court heard how Miss Simms kept notes which methodically recorded numerous experiments with drugs and how they affected her.

Coroner Grahame Short concluded it was an experiment that "went wrong" which killed the 26-year-old, ruling accidental death.

See the full story in Thursday's Gazette.