A coroner has described the death of a woman who took her own life at her home in Maidstone as a "most tragic case."

Patricia Harding said that Andrea Gulsen had never got over the deaths first of a partner 16 years ago, or later, the death of her son Alan, who was found in the River Medway in Maidstone.

Mrs Gulsen was born in Kołobrzeg in Poland but came to Britain with her father in 1995 when she was 17.

After her son was born, her husband, who was Turkish, returned to his homeland while she stayed. The pair later divorced.

She formed a relationship with another man, who subsequently took his own life by hanging.

From then onwards, Mrs Gulsen began to suffer from depression and anxiety.

She had a difficult relationship with her son, and when he began taking cannabis and other drugs, she asked him to leave the house, after which he was homeless and forced to sofa-surf with friends.

In March, 2018, Alan Gulsen, 19, went missing. His body was found three weeks later in the River Medway; and an inquest was unable to determine the exact cause of his death.

She blamed herself for his death and became more depressed. She became heavily reliant on sleeping tablets and prescribed medicines, and would sometimes not get out bed for several days.

The inquest at the Archbishop's Palace in Maidstone heard that on at least two previous occasions, Mrs Gulsen had tried to take her own life. She died on February 5.

Her body was discovered by her current boyfriend, who had to break in her bedroom door to reach her. Police investigated but found no evidence of any third party involvement.

A post mortem found traces of cocaine in her body, but determined that the cause of death was hanging.

The coroner concluded her death was suicide.

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