THE death of a student found hanging by the straps of her handbag after a night out remains a mystery, an inquest heard yesterday.

Joanne Forrest's body was found tangled in the straps of her bag in a stairwell.

The inquest heard she had enjoyed a night out drinking with friends in Newcastle in September.

Just minutes after parting from the group, she was found dead, but how she ended up there has not been explained.

Ms Forrest, 17, was found dead by Newcastle University security guards on stairs at the rear of Bar Oz, in Percy Street, shortly before midnight one Friday.

She had spent the evening wandering the city streets drinking lager with a group of young people who later left her.

At the inquest in Newcastle, coroner David Mitford recorded an open verdict, concluding there was no evidence to suggest Ms Forrest had killed herself or been harmed by anyone else.

He said: "There are concerns about both what happened to Joanne in the course of the evening, some induced by her own behaviour and some which may have been caused by the fact she was with a group who then departed from her. That seems to have caused her to be very upset."

Giving evidence, friends Stephen Hall, 16, and Jennifer Stokoe, 17, said that although drunk, Joanne had given no indication of being suicidal.

Acting Detective Sergeant Ronald Lowes, of Market Street CID, said: "She was suspended by a handbag through the railings with the strap pulled around her neck."

Joanne, a former pupil at Walbottle High School, who had been attending Palmersville Training Centre, lived in the West End of Newcastle with her parents Joan and David, both 38.

She had a sister, Stacey, 19, and brothers, David, 15, and Jordan, eight.

Yesterday, from the family home in Whickham View, Mrs Forrest said she did not think her daughter had killed herself.

Her grandmother, Joan Rogerson, 65, said: "I spoke to Joanne in the afternoon.

"She sounded happy and bubbly. She was ringing me because her parents' phone was engaged and she said to tell them she would be home within an hour. That's the last time I spoke to her."