A former woman soldier killed herself after a fight against depression, an inquest heard.

Coroner John Gittins recorded a conclusion of suicide on 35-year-old Kate Fell-Crook who was found hanging in her home at Glan y Gors, Prestatyn, in December 2015.

The mother-of-one had been discharged from the Hergest psychiatric unit at Bangor less than three months earlier, after eight days, following a plea to an appeal tribunal. Her family had been critical about this, feeling that had she been detained for longer there might have been a different outcome, the inquest at Ruthin heard.

Her father Brian Fell-Crook said in evidence that Kate had joined the army when she was 17 but was discharged in 2012 because of health problems. In 2006 she had suffered from depression but the army, in which she served in clerical posts in Northern Ireland, Chester, Portsmouth and Tidworth, had arranged counselling.

“In the last six months we had noticed a difference in her mental state,” he told the inquest.

Mental health workers described how in the last months of her life she had mentioned suicide but always stated that her young daughter was the factor which prevented it.

She was visited every two days at home by mental health workers. But when no reply was received for one appointment police had been told because of worries about her welfare. When they broke in next day her body was on the stairs.

The coroner heard that, although she hadn’t left a note, Kate had locked the doors and ensured there was food for her dog, which was in a cage.

A pathologist found she had three times the driving limit for alcohol in her blood and also therapeutic drugs of a potential fatal range.

The hearing was told there had been an IPCC inquiry into the police response.

Sympathising with the family, Mr Gittins said : “She was a fine woman.”