A coroner said a 15-year-old found hanged in her bedroom was too young to fully understand she was going to kill herself.

Emily Casemore, originally from Bicester, was found in her room by staff at the Ashley House care home, in Tadley, Hampshire, last November.

The pupil of Gillotts School, in Henley, had played truant that day and been drinking, the inquest at North East Hampshire Coroner’s Court heard.

In a statement read out by coroner Andrew Bradley, teacher Yolande Cox said Emily had a history of self-harm, once being found with a razor blade in her arm, but had been making progress, with improved school attendance.

Emily’s mother Sharon, from Bicester, said she had struggled to get help for Emily.

Recording an open verdict, Mr Bradley said: “I have serious difficulty reconciling a 15-year-old’s appreciation of death and self-killing.”