CHILDREN out walking with their dad in the Trough of Bowland discovered the body of a 57-year-old nurse who had died as a result of drinking anti-freeze, an inquest heard.

The hearing was told that Maureen Elizabeth Johnston was lying beside her overturned car at the foot of a 30-metre embankment.

But deputy coroner Carolyn Singleton said it would never be known whether Miss Johnston had deliberately driven the car off the road in an attempt to take her life.

The inquest heard that the car ignition key was in the tail-gate lock of the Ford Fiesta where police found an open bottle of anti-freeze.

Miss Johnston, of Morecambe, a nurse at Royal Lancaster Infirmary, had not worked since before Christmas because of depression.

One of her four brothers, Ian Johnston, of Lancaster said Miss Johnston had been unwell for some time and had received treatment for her depression.

He had seen her three days before her death when she seemed "very low."

Mr Johnston's wife, Janet, said she and Miss Johnston had become good friends. She said Miss Johnston had been very depressed on the last occasion she saw her and said she could not face life any more.

Stephen Hill, of Heysham, described how he had taken his children and some of their friends to the Trough of Bowland for a country walk.

They saw two cars at the foot of the embankment, one of which was burnt out and had been there for some time.

The children went on ahead to have a look and found the body of Miss Johnston lying in the long grass close to her car.

Mr Hill checked for signs of life then went to a nearby farm to raise the alarm.

Police sergeant John Lindsey, said that when he arrived at the scene as well as the bottle of anti-freeze he found a half empty bottle of whiskey and a black handbag which contained a note.

The note opened: "Forgive me, I love you all very much but my mind is in torment. The guilt is overwhelming, the guilty of what I am doing to people. You don't know how much I want to be normal and live a normal life."

A post mortem examination revealed that death had been caused by the combined toxicity of ethylene glycol and methanol, from the anti-freeze, and paroxetine, and anti-depressant.

Recording a verdict of suicide, Mrs Singleton said it was clear that Miss Johnston had suffered from mental health problems for a considerable time and that she had decided to kill herself.

"I do not know if she deliberately drove the car off the road in an attempt to do that but, if she did she failed," said Mrs Singleton.