A distraught Broadmoor patient hanged herself after hours of vicious gang bullying, an inquest heard.

Lisa Smyth, 23, was transferred to Broadmoor from Holloway Prison after committing three arson attacks in Oxford.

The inquest heard that on August 17 she went into the toilet cubicle in her ward, tied a bootlace around her neck and hanged herself from the window bars.

She had been involved in an incident when a female inmate hit her for sitting in her seat, the court was told. A note in her room addressed to her father read: "Dad, I'm sorry I have had to do this but I can't carry on like this for the rest of my life." A second note read: "I love you, Ali, as a mother but you can see the pain I'm going through. I just want peace. I love you."

Nurse Linda Bonnett told the coroner's court in Windsor, Berkshire: "We were only made aware of the bullying later on in the evening after her body had been found.

"Some of the patients felt guilty and told us they had bullied Lisa."

Lisa was transferred to Broadmoor from Holloway Prison in 1996 after committing three arson attacks. In one blaze, she and a male friend threw a petrol bomb through the window of a previous landlord's house in a revenge attack.

The inquest was how she had led a troubled and at times traumatic childhood.

Ms Smyth had a psychopathic borderline personality disorder and was on behaviour therapy. Consultant psychologist Fiona Mason said: "Lisa would self-harm herself on many occasions. She would do this by burning herself with a cigarette or cutting her arms."

Nurse assistant Kerri Woolman said: "I'm not sure whether it was an attempt at suicide or just a cry for help."

The jury returned a verdict of suicide whilst the balance of her mind was disturbed.

Story date: Saturday 16 October

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