A TEENAGER killed herself by taking a massive overdose of anti-depressants in a cemetery so she could be closer to a childhood friend who stood up to bullies for her, an inquest heard yesterday.

Caroline Brown, 16, was severely depressed and regularly visited the grave of a boy who died of meningitis when he was eight.

The inquest was told how Caroline had attempted suicide eight times before by taking overdoses and cutting her wrists.

When she went missing, her mother and the police knew she would be at Oxbridge Cemetery in Stockton.

Caroline was found by police lying near the boy's grave on November 2, 2000. She admitted taking 98 of her mother's Dothiepin tablets.

She refused treatment at North Tees Hospital and suffered two cardiac arrests and epileptic fits. Caroline was put on a life support machine but she died 17 days later.

Caroline lived at Walworth Road, Stockton, with her mother, Elaine, 46. She said she wished her daughter could have been sectioned to hospital "to see if her mind could be changed, to stop her committing suicide because that was her main intention".

The problems started when Caroline was 11 and her eight-year-old friend died of meningitis. They had gone to primary school together and he protected her from bullying, but it continued when she switched schools.

Teesside Coroner Michael Sheffield heard how Caroline's GP, Dr Amit Kumar Banerjee, became concerned for her welfare and feared she was not safe in the community.

She first tried to take her life in 1999. Psychiatrists decided she was not suffering from mental illness and she was not sectioned, despite seven subsequent suicide attempts.

Mr Sheffield said: "She was severely troubled and wanted to be at rest with her friend and that was her only solace."

His verdict was that she took her own life while the balance of her mind was disturbed.