Bbc Actress Commits Suicide After Battling Drug Gambling Problems

                   A Waterloo Road actress took her own life after battling with drug and gambling problems, and inquest heard.

                   Lynsey Pow, 34, who also appeared alongside Billie Piper in Secret Diary Of A Call Girl, and the BBC's Doctors was found dead at her flat on November 28 last year.

                  An inquest at Southwark coroner's court heard how her husband Ashley House, a Eurosport TV presenter, rushed back home from work after growing concerned about her welfare.

                   But the tragic actress's father revealed a bitter family rift, saying that Mr House had failed to protect his daughter, the Evening Standard reports.

A statement from James Pow read to the court said: "I sought to separate my daughter from her husband after he failed to fulfil his marriage vows to act as a custodian and guardian."

The inquest heard that when Ms Pow told called her her husband she told him she was sorry for her online gambling and that she had bought some cocaine.

Dr Johan Hugo, a GP who met Ms Pow on October 13, said she told him that she "felt like a failure" and was using cocaine on a daily basis and had tried to self-harm.

She was prescribed anti-depressants and referred for psychiatric treatment.

When she met Dr Hugo on October 30 she told him she was off drugs and seemed like a "different person", eager to get on with work commitments.

Her brother, actor Duncan Pow, told the inquest that his sister had twice previously tried to take her life, and that on October 16 he and his younger sister had found her in a "catatonic" state.

Ms Pow left a note before her death, the inquest heard.

Assistant Coroner Sarah Ormond-Walshe recorded a narrative verdict, saying the presence of drugs in Ms Pow's system meant it could not be proven she intended to kill herself.

She said: "[Ms Pow] appeared to have obtained some cocaine and while under the influence of cocaine she appeared to hang herself.

"It is likely to have influenced her mind so it cannot be said that she intended to die.

"I am recording this as a drug-related self-harm death."

Samaritans provide support to people in distress.  They can be contacted on 08457 90 90 90 or by email: jo@samaritans.org.uk.