A MOTHER of three killed herself 19 years after receiving head and face injuries in a car crash.

Teaching assistant Lynne Williams of Lindrick Road, New Marske, had been left extremely anxious and suffering a loss of confidence after the crash in October 1983, an inquest in Middlesbrough heard yesterday.

Emergency surgery in 1997 necessitated by the difficult birth of her third child, also left her depressed, anxious and concerned about a change in her body shape.

Over the following years there were several episodes of self-harm and serious attempts at ending her life, as the 40-year-old felt ashamed about her depression, low self esteem and anxiousness.

Widower Clifford Williams said his wife suffered a nervous breakdown last summer, from which she never recovered. She took a fatal overdose of tablets in January this year.

Deputy Teesside Coroner Gordon Hetherington said on the day she died Mrs Williams took a "considerable number of tablets of different kinds".

She had waited until the three children were at school and her husband was at work before killing herself.

Mr Williams later discovered his wife's body in the bathroom of their home.

Mr Hetherington recorded a verdict of suicide.