TRIBUTES have been paid to a “bubbly” and “outgoing” mother-of-two who died after a battle with depression.

Kerry Worms was found at her home in Hove on August 31 after taking a cocktail of anti-depressants, an inquest heard.

The 42-year-old personal assistant, who worked in the landlord and tenant department at Brighton legal firm Dean Wilson Solicitors, left the office at lunchtime the previous day and did not return.

When she did not turn up for work the next day, colleagues became worried and tried in vain to call and text her. They raised the alarm with relatives and the police after visiting her flat in Fourth Avenue to find the windows open and car in the driveway, but no answer at the door. They traced her phone using a mobile app which said it was inside the property. Officers broke down the door to find Ms Worms lying on her bed.

Toxicology tests showed a three different types of anti-depressant in her system – only one of which had been prescribed. The inquest heard she had a history of bouts of depression and had most recently seen her doctor in June when she was emotionally distressed. She said she was struggling with work. She was prescribed one strain of the medication as well as another drug to help her sleep.

Her mother Lynne Porter said: “She was bubbly, very outgoing. She had many friends and was loved by everyone she knew. She was always smiling and laughing. She had an infectious laugh.

“I want to thank all of her friends and work colleagues for being so supportive. We miss her very much.”

The inquest looked at the possibility Ms Worms had intended to take her own life because the door of the flat was locked from the inside with the key left in it – an unusual step according to her partner Terrence Conroy – and because she had left a note for her father George.

But assistant coroner Catharine Palmer also noted other medication was found in her flat which could have proved fatal at a high dosage but had not been taken.

Mr Conroy, who lived separately from Ms Worms and was abroad at the time visiting his son, said he now thinks the act had been a “cry for help”.

He told the inquest she had been upset in conversations they exchanged in the days leading up to her death and she had asked him to come home from his trip early, which had not been possible.

The coroner recorded a narrative conclusion of her death in which she said she could not rule it as a suicide. She found Ms Worms had died of toxicity from an anti-depressant drug, with other medications, which stopped her heart.