The parents of a woman found hanged believe their daughter had not meant to kill herself, an inquest heard.

Emily Jane Mander, 31, was found hanging from the bannister at her parents' house in Stansfield Close, Headington, at about 2am on February 22.

Coroner Nicholas Gardiner recorded an open verdict at Old County Hall on Tuesday because he could not be sure she meant to kill herself.

Her mother, Katherine, said the pair had been drinking and watching television earlier that night, but Miss Mander, a publisher, had later turned "psychotic" .

Mrs Mander told the court: "We were buying a house together and I was going to pay off her debts - she was £18,000 in debt - and I said you can't keep spending, and that's what set her off.

"She became quite psychotic, she was screaming and I became quite upset.

"It had happened a couple of years before - she pulled a knife out of the draw and was going to stab herself."

Having gone to bed on the night of her daughter's death, Mrs Mander found her body at about 2am.

She said: "I don't think she knew what she was doing, whether she did it to spite me I don't know.

"I think it was just a moment of insanity."

Miss Mander's father, Dr Anthony Mander, said he was away on business in Manchester at the time and had been called by his daughter 20 minutes before her death.

He said she was "not particularly angry" and was planning to speak to him the following day.

He said: "My own feeling was whatever it was that clicked, it must have been absolutely spur of the moment.

"She was probably trying to make a gesture and it went very badly wrong."