THE family of a "beautiful and intelligent" Essex University student who was found hanging by a tree feel more could have been done to support her.

Hannah Webster was found near the East Bay Allotments in Colchester on May 12.

An inquest this morning heard Hannah, 20, was known to both the Essex Partnership University Trust (EPUT) and the South West Yorkshire Partnership as she had attempted suicide before.

The banking and finance student, from Dewsbury, had face to face conversations with the trust in Dewsbury during her summer break from Essex University last year, regarding depression and borderline personality disorder. She had been known to the Dewsbury service since March 2015. 

She had also been admitted to A&E in Colchester on May 9 of this year after calling her mum Deborah and sharing her feelings about her mental health.

EPUT assessed Hannah for short time before sending her back to her accommodation in Colchester for home treatment, not knowing about her medical history whilst in Dewsbury until afterwards. A data system failure had meant there had been limited access to notes.

However mum Deborah said her daughter should have been kept in hospital. Her daughter was found just days later. 

She said: "She was just beautiful, intelligent, all she ever wanted to do was go to university.

"She wanted to be a mentor for new students, she wanted to work abroad and travel.

"She had some mental health issues but she was a private person. She would go from one extreme to the other and it started to manifest itself more and more.

"In my opinion they failed her."

EPUT said lessons have been learnt and an action plan has been put in place to make sure information can be available during system failures.

Hannah went missing on Thursday, May 11 and concerns were raised about her wellbeing leading to a police search and appeal.

A post mortem examination, at Colchester General Hospital, confirmed the cause of death as fatal pressure on the neck.

Essex Senior Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray closed the inquest earlier this morning.

We will update this story shortly.