A grieving father is adamant his daughter did not take her own life, despite a coroner ruling she may have done.

Earle Godfrey, of Park Road, Witney, discovered daughter Leanne, 20, hanging from a loft hatch in her home in Wychwood Close, Witney, on April 12, 2003.

At her inquest yesterday, Mr Godfrey, 48, accused police of failing to properly investigate her death. He believes there may have been foul play.

Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner heard how Leanne, whose nine-year-old daughter Billie now lives with Mr Godfrey, had been struggling to come to terms with a relationship break-up.

She had been seeing Andrew Cross, from Witney, for about four months.

During the early hours of April 12, she had called her ex-boyfriend three times, but each time Mr Cross's mother Joyce picked up the phone and the line went dead.

Toxicology reports showed Miss Godfrey had been drinking heavily and taken ecstasy prior to her death.

Mr Cross - the last person to see Miss Godfrey alive - picked her up at 11pm the night before her death and took her back to her home.

Det Supt Stephen Duffy said: "Leanne was finding it very difficult to come to terms with the fact the relationship had ended and Mr Cross didn't want to give her false hope the relationship was going to be rekindled."

Mr Godfrey, however, said police were wrong in thinking she had been harassing Mr Cross, but that it was him who had been perpetuating the relationship.

He also said there was evidence which suggested his daughter had not taken her own life.

No insulation fibreglass was found on her arms, he explained, despite her having apparently entered the loft to tie the rope from which she hanged herself.

Miss Godfrey is also thought to have inflicted minor cuts to her wrists in the sitting room before hanging herself, but no blood was found on or around the bannisters upstairs, which police believe she used to reach the loft hatch.

Mr Godfrey said: "In my opinion, from the very start the police were not interested in this case."

But Mr Duffy said officers had investigated the fatality thoroughly.

He said: "There is no suggestion whatsoever that there was anybody else involved in this tragic incident."

Mr Gardiner said: "I'm in no doubt Leanne hanged herself. The question is whether that was her intention.

"I can't say that I am absolutely sure she intended the consequences of her actions and for that reason I am recording an open verdict."

Outside the court, Mr Godfrey said: "I will never believe Leanne took her own life until the day I die.

"I don't believe she would have left her daughter. She idolised that little girl."