A GRIEVING psychiatric nurse was told her by boss to "lock herself in a room and cry on her own" as she struggled to come to terms with the death of her parents in separate tragedies, an inquest heard.

Less than four months later, Amanda Shapland was found hanged at her home in Radcliffe.

The remark by a manager at Birch Hill Hospital's psychiatric unit was revealed during an inquest in Bury on Tuesday (Jan 7) into Miss Shapland's death.

"It wasn't what she wanted or needed to hear," said her boyfriend David Weldon. He added that Miss Shapland fled work on May 31 of last year and was found at Burrs Country Park in Bury where her dad, Alan, had drowned in the River Irwell 17 months earlier.

The former Derby High School pupil had taken a cocktail of drink and drugs in one of three failed overdose suicide attempts.

The hearing was told Miss Shapland's mental health began to deteriorate after her father's death in January, 2001. Her mother had died in 1998 after failing to recover from surgery and she began to receive bereavement counselling.

It was also revealed the 31-year-old suffered severe bouts of depression. A feud with her two older sisters over her boyfriend added to her mental instability.

On September 24 last year, Mr Weldon returned to their home in Marsden Walk, Radcliffe, to find Miss Shapland's body hanging from the attic.

A number of letters to her partner and sisters indicated a clear intention to take her own life.

But after hearing evidence from family and psychiatric professionals, Bury North Coroner Mr Simon Nelson said he was unwilling to record a verdict of suicide. He said Miss Shapland had "killed herself while suffering from depressive illness".

He said: "What strikes me is the multiplicity of problems and difficulties which she was having to deal with. They were coming from all directions: from a family perspective, relationship, employment, medical difficulties and clearly unresolved bereavement problems.

"I think it would have been extremely difficult for anyone to have been able to prioritise all these outstanding needs and issues.

"Even with the benefit of hindsight I do not feel Miss Shapland's death could have been avoided."

Mr Nelson concluded: "Whether by reason of her medical training to minimise her problems to others, she was suffering from a depressive illness and her decision to take her own life must be taken in that context."