A 13-YEAR-OLD schoolgirl hanged herself in the woods after suffering years of mental health problems, an inquest heard.

Sophie Clark went to a secluded area near her north Dorset home after telling her dad, James Clark, she was going for a walk, Dorset coroner Sheriff Payne was told.

When she failed to return home her dad raised the alarm and a police search was mounted.

But the Gryphon School student’s body was found the following day by a man out walking his dog, the Bournemouth inquest heard.

Mr Payne was told that Sophie, whose mum died from Cystic Fibrosis when she was just three-years-old, had a history of self-harm and depression and had been prescribed anti-depressant medication.

She received counselling and had access to out-of-hours crisis care but admission to a psychiatric unit had been ruled “inappropriate.”

Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Zoe Ellison-Wright detailed the care received by Sophie and Mr Payne said: “She clearly had been unhappy. There was nothing that could have prevented this.

“At the end of the day she was the one who took herself off to this remote location with the equipment needed to take her own life. It is so, so sad that someone so young feels that this is the only way forward.”

Sophie’s body was found in woods off Dancing Hill at 9.15am on Wednesday June 15 last year, 10 hours after her dad raised the alarm.

The inquest heard that Sophie lived with her father and moved between the UK and New Zealand during her childhood.

She lived at Acreman Place in Sherborne and attended Gryphon School, where staff had helped her with her problems and had referred her for specialist help.

The inquest heard Sophie had told staff at the school that she felt her mental health had deteriorated since she was 10-years-old and that she had suicidal thoughts.

During the inquest, Mr Clark said: “I was happy with the way that Sophie was cared for.”

Mr Payne recorded a verdict that Sophie took her own life.