A TEENAGE girl's life was cut short after she took a lethal concoction of drugs, a Teesside inquest heard yesterday.

Lilli Brown, 17, took a lethal cocktail of heroin, methadone and alcohol during a New Year's Day party with three other drug users in Stockton last year.

Traces of cocaine, Ecstasy, cannabis and diazepam were also found in her blood.

Her body was discovered in bed on January 2 in North Port Road, Portrack, Teesside.

Three people she bought the drugs with were arrested and have been jailed for supplying her with heroin.

Her parents said they found it hard to believe that Lilli, who had recently passed ten GCSEs and excelled at sport, would have injected herself with the drugs.

Speaking outside the court, Lilli's stepfather, Nigel, said: "Whenever Lilli took heroin, she smoked it, she would never inject it.

"The thing that annoys the family is that whenever Lilli would get a jab at school, she would be hysterical, so we do not think she would have injected herself."

The inquest heard how Lilli had been warned against taking too much by regular user Anthony McMaster, of Violet Close, Norton, because she was not used to it.

Interviews carried out by the police suggest she got up in the middle of the night and took a further £5 worth of heroin and 40 millilitres of methadone, which had been left in a bottle.

An examination of her body revealed needle marks in her arms.

Lilli had a history of heroin abuse dating back to 2000.

The inquest heard how, in the months before her death, she tried to hang herself and had been treated on a psychiatric ward.

The day before she died, the group had agreed to buy £60 of heroin between them.

Mark Gibben and Lisa Brown, formerly of Borough Road, Middlesbrough, went to get the drugs and returned to join McMaster and Lilli.

They divided the drugs up, with Gibben and McMaster taking £20 worth each, leaving £10 wraps for the girls.

Lilli is thought to have taken half before going to bed then half throughout the night.

Deputy Teesside Coroner Gordon Hetherington recorded a verdict of misadventure.

He said: "She intended to take heroin but did not intend to kill herself.

"It proved too much for her and she went to sleep but did not wake up."