A mum of one accidentally took a fatal dose of prescription drugs when she was fed up with her life, an inquest heard yesterday.

Troubled Joy Ellis, who suffered with sickle cell disease, had a long history of psychological problems and depression and had overdosed and "overused" drugs previously, the court was told.

The 41 year old was found lying dead on a sofa at her home in Wharfdale Way, Bridgend, Stonehouse, Glos on March 31 last year - just two days after she was rushed to hospital having downed the contents of two pill bottles.

A post mortem revealed she had consumed a fatal dose of painkiller Dyhydracodeine.

PC Katy Hammond of Gloucester police said she was called to er address on the morning of March 29 after a row broke out between Mrs Ellis and her teenage daughter Abigail.

"Joy was shouting 'Get her out!' Her daughter was very upset," said the policewoman.

Abigail was then taken away with some neighbours and an upset Mrs Ellis went into the living room where she firstly put three tablets in her mouth and then proceeded to down the contents of two bottles, she explained.

PC Hammond said she and her colleague called an ambulance, and the crew took her to Cheltenham General Hospital rather than Gloucestershire Royal - because she said her sister died in the Gloucester hospital and she didn't want to go there.

"She said she just wanted to go to sleep. She said she did it all the time and her body was used to it," added the policewoman.

Once in hospital, staff assessed she had taken up to 13 diazepam tablets and up to 30 Dyhydracodeine pills but she was alert and lucid and was discharged later that afternoon.

No problems had arisen with her sickle cell condition, it emerged.

Dr Robin Clark, in the psychiatry department, who assessed her, said Mrs Ellis told him she had been feeling bad that day for various reasons, including the row with her daughter, that it was her ex-partner's birthday and because of the pain from her sickle cell condition.

Also bothering her, said the doctor, was that she "was the only black person in Stonehouse".

"When I referred to the overdose, she said it was not, it was a 'cry for help'", he added.

On the way home from hospital, she stopped off at the GP's surgery and was told to sleep it off, her friend Richard Cheeseman told the inquest.

"They did not seem unduly concerned," said Mr Cheeseman, a friend of Mrs Ellis for 10 years, who travelled with her to the hospital that morning and drove her home.

After leaving her later that day Mr Cheeseman said he tried texting and phoning on March 30 but got no answer and on March 31 called round to Wharfdale Way to find her lying on the settee, cold and not moving.

Meanwhile, the inquest heard, that on March 30, another friend, who was visiting one of Mrs Ellis's neighbours saw her in the garden exercising her dogs and she "seemed positive" and "did not give the impression she had taken anything".

Toxicological tests revealed that Mrs Ellis had Citalopram (antidepressant) at therapeutic levels in her system, diazepam at moderately high levels but not a fatal dose and dyhydracodeine at 3.46 mlg per litre - an amount consistent with fatalities.

Pathologist Professor Neil Shepherd gave the cause of death as an overdose of this drug against a background of sickle cell disease.

A psychiatrist's report said Mrs Ellis was the sixth of nine children (three of whom suffered from sickle cell) and she had moved to Stroud when she was eight.

Her younger sister had died of the disease in her 20s and the condition was a constant source of problems - her day to day functions affected by it.

She suffered prolongued personality difficulties and depression and was first referred to the mental health service in 1990 when she was 24.

She had a history of self harm through the "overuse" of drugs and had overdosed on medication in 1992, again in 1993 and "overused" dyhydracodeine in 1998, and there was chaotic use of sleeping pills in 2002, the court heard.

Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore said: "It's quite clear that her heath problems impinged on her life generally."

On the day when police called to discover the row with Abigail, things escalated, he said, yet happily te evidence showed that later the same day mum and daughter made up on the phone.

Mr Crickmore said that he was satisfied that she took an overdose on March 29 in full view of the police in the knowledge that she would be saved.

"I am satisfied that on March 30/31 she took a further overdose of dyhydracodeine," he said, adding that it was this overdose which was the primary cause of death.

To record a suicide verdict, he said, he would have to be sure that at the moment she took the pills, she had intended to cause death - which he could NOT in this case.

He said over her long contact with psychological services there had been overuse of drugs but no evidence of suicidal intent.

He said Mrs Ellis had simply done as she had done "so many times" before but on this occasion it proved fatal.

He recorded a verdict of accidental death.

VERDICT: ACCIDENT