A "beautiful and vibrant" young mum took her own life after sending a distressed message to a friend, an inquest heard.

Emergency services were called when Sophie Watts, 21, sent the text and then did not pick up her phone in February last year.

Police officers forced her front door and she was taken to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough.

Her condition deteriorated and she was pronounced dead the next day, Teesside Live reports.

She left behind her two children, then aged two and four, as well as her partner, mum Debbie and dad Peter, and her four sisters and three brothers..

Friends and family packed out her inquest at Teesside Coroner’s Court.

Sophie's father said his daughter's greatest achievement was becoming a mum (
Image:
UGC)
Sophie with her brother Ged (
Image:
Facebook)

Her father told proceedings: “Sophie was a vibrant fun loving girl who excelled at sport and was a wonderful gymnast.

“Her greatest achievement in life was becoming a mother."

The court heard Sophie, who was well known in the area where she worked as a barmaid at Aruba nightclub, suffered from mood swings lasting weeks at a time and was under a "lot of pressure".

Doctors prescribed her quetiapine, which is used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder.

Clare Bailey, senior coroner for Teesside, said she was satisfied there was no third party involvement and ruled her death as suicide.

Sophie’s sister Bethany, 24, previously said she "lit up" any room she walked into.

She wrote in a tribute at the time: “21 years old and such a hard life she lived, nothing was ever easy for her and in the end the fight got too hard and she got too tired to fight anymore.”

Hundreds of people flooded social media with tributes after her death and 150 gathered together to remember Sophie in February 2021.

Hundreds of orange balloons- chosen because of Sophie’s trademark colour eyeshadow, were released in her memory.

The Samaritans is available 24/7 if you need to talk. You can contact them for free by calling 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or head to the website to find your nearest branch. You matter.

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