A GRIEVING mother hanged herself 18 months after her teenage son also took his own life, a court heard.

An inquest in Bolton was told how Carol Ann Brooks’ mental health had deteriorated so much following the 14-year-old’s death that she had turned a room in her flat into “a shrine” to him and regularly saw visions of her son.

Ms Brooks’ father, Michael Brooks, told the hearing his only child had enjoyed a happy childhood until she began taking magic mushrooms when she was 13.

She had left home and been homeless before marrying and having two children but Mr Brooks said she had started to “mix with the wrong people” and ending up having her home “ransacked and damaged by drug dealers”.

Mr Brooks said she also served time in jail and lived in a homeless hostel while also seeing one of her sons taken into care before he killed himself in 2016.

“She was devastated,” he said. “She found it difficult to cope and never got over it and made her flat into a shrine to her son. She would even talk to the birds and think he was in there.”

Assistant Coroner Simon Nelson said Ms Brooks, of Swinside Road, Bolton, was found hanged at her home by her father on April 2 this year after he had called around to deliver some family photographs.

Police officers had found a note addressed to her father in her pocket and there were various messages scrawled on the wall, one of which was described as “a will and testament”.

Various documents relating to her son’s death, including his death certificate, were also found on her bed.

Police Coroner’s Officer Nicola Boyes said there had been a number of calls from neighbours in the past about Ms Brooks’ “erratic behaviour” including ones reporting she had threatened to kill herself and had been writing on walls. She added that a police investigation had found no suspicious circumstances.

Pathologist Dr Jonathan Pearson, who gave the cause of death as hanging, said there were lacerations on Ms Brooks’ forearms which suggested she had been self-harming. A toxicology report found she had ecstasy and cocaine in her system as well as high levels of two anti-psychotic drugs which Dr Pearson said indicated she had taken them shortly before her death.

Recording a conclusion that Ms Brooks’ death was suicide, Mr Nelson said he had been concerned by examples of “administrative incompetence” displayed by her GP practice at Breightmet Health Centre and the mental health team at Bolton Assessment Service.

Dr Steven Whittaker from the practice appeared at the hearing and admitted “several” emails, including one about Ms Brooks had not been sent to Bolton Assessment Service due to spelling errors.

Mr Nelson added: “I note that previous problems over accessing information have been resolved and I hope there are now smooth lines of communication.”