A PENSIONER who became depressed after breaking her hip put a plastic bag over her head and suffocated herself, an inquest has heard.

Elizabeth Baker, 76, was found dead in bed at her home in Healey Wood Road, in Burnley, by her son Colin in May.

The court heard that she left a note apologising and asking for forgiveness.

She had broken her hip three years earlier and had started suffering from depression because she found she was unable to do some of the things she used to do.

In those three years Mrs Baker also suffered from various illnesses and just before her death she had just been discharged after a six-week spell in hospital.

The inquest heard that while she was in hospital she had attempted to cut her wrists with a nail file, but it had been too blunt for her to make a serious attempt on her own life.

Colin, of Cog Lane, Burnley, said: "She had become slowly more depressed since breaking her hip. She got over it but during the last three years since then she had other physical illnesses and that seems to have got on top of her and affected her mentally.

"She couldn't do what she used to do as well and that has affected her mental state." Mrs Baker had been treated for depression 12 months earlier and was taking prescribed medication for it.

Colin visited his mum every day and in the days before her death he said she had not shown any signs that she was considering taking her own life.

He said: "When I brought her home from hospital she appeared to be all right. I had seen her depressed before and she had bounced back."

Mrs Baker was found dead just six days after returning home from hospital. Her son found her dead in bed with a plastic bag over her head during his normal daily visit.

A post mortem examination revealed that there was nothing unusual in her blood stream and that she died from asphyxiation.

Recording a verdict that Mrs Baker took her own life, East Lancashire coroner, Richard Taylor, said: "I think I have to consider the note she left and the fact that she made an attempt before.

"She was being treated for depression and had undertaken the deliberate act of putting the bag over he head."