FORMER trainee nurse, on medication for depression, was found dead in her flat, an inquest heard.

Judith Ruffell, 46, of Pearce Road, Chesham, was found slumped on her bed by her friend and neighbour David Bramley, in January.

Mr Bramley told a High Wycombe inquest on Thursday that they were good friends and she did not seem down when he last saw her on January 26.

Mr Bramley and Mrs Ruffell, a divorcee who moved to Chesham two years ago, used to attend a drop-in centre in Chesham but Mr Bramley said he was not surprised when she did not attend the centre on January 29.

He said: "The following day I recall seeing Judith's curtains drawn. She was sometimes a heavy sleeper and I did not think much of it."

Mr Bramley went round the same day to find out what had happened to his friend.

He said: "The flat was in complete darkness. I could see Judith slumped on her bed.

"It was obvious she was dead and had been for a while."

Consultant pathologist for South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust, Dr David Bailey said the cause of death was an overdose of a combination of anti-depressant drugs.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Coroner Richard Hulett, said: "This was a person who'd quite a long medical history of taking tablets and there had been a number of occasions in the past when she had taken an overdose of tablets but she had sought help.

"Usually when people are determined on such a course of action they do not mess about."

Mrs Ruffell had trained as a nurse at St George's Hospital in London and moved to Bucks about ten years ago.

Speaking after the inquest, Mrs Ruffell's father, Don Goater, said: "She was fun-loving and headstrong and could have done anything she wanted but the illness blighted her life."