A brilliant young artist killed herself after taking the controversial anti-depressant Seroxat.

Sharise Gatchell, 18, had been prescribed the drug without her parents' knowledge.

They found her body when they returned home after a weekend away.

Sharise had hanged herself. A packet of Seroxat, with 30 empty blisters, was lying on her bed.

Today her father Alfred said he blamed the so-called wonder drug for her death.

He and wife Stephanie, of Lawes Avenue, Newhaven, have joined calls for it to be banned.

A coroner at Eastbourne yesterday stopped short of making a definite link.

But he said he would pass the findings of the inquest to the Committee on the Safety of Medicines, the Government's advisory body on pharmaceuticals.

Sharise's death is the latest in a series of cases brought to the attention of the pill's Crawley-based manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). It insists the drug, which has become the most heavily-prescribed anti-depressant since it was first licensed in 1990, is safe.

The inquest heard Sharise, an "extremely talented" art foundation student at City College, Brighton, was initially prescribed Seroxat to help her battle shyness and depression.

But her condition deepened and she experienced dramatic mood swings, withdrawing into herself.

She agreed with her parents to come off the drug.

However, shortly before her death she was given a new prescription without the knowledge of her parents.

Mr and Mrs Gatchell went away on Friday, May 23, believing Sharise's best friend was staying for the weekend.

Her parents returned early on Monday, May 26, to find their daughter's body.

The empty pack of pills, dated May 7, a blood-stained craft knife and a note were on her bed.

Mrs Gatchell told the inquest: "I had no idea she was on Seroxat but she was definitely behaving very strangely. Had we known she was taking it we would never have gone away.

"She was aggressive, hostile and very depressed.

"We feel cheated that as a family we didn't know she had been prescribed Seroxat just because she was over 16.

"We as parents should have been able to have had some input even if we could not have stopped her. With all the controversy surrounding it, why take the risk?"

Sharise's GP, Dr Zoe Nunn, of the Quayside Medical Practice in Chapel Street, Newhaven, said she had no fears about prescribing Sharise Seroxat.

She said: "I felt she was quite chirpy and didn't have any serious concerns.

"If I had had concerns she was at risk of self-harm or suicide I would have made sure she was followed up more closely."

East Sussex coroner Alan Craze recorded a verdict of suicide.