A teenage girl who gassed herself in an apparent suicide pact with a lifelong friend told her mother in an e-mail four days before that she was homesick, an inquest heard today.

Jennifer Prinn, 17, was found dead with her friend Elizabeth Gold, 16, in a car at a friend's house in Crawley with Miss Gold's favourite teddy bear and a duvet sandwiched between them.

The pair had grown up together in Pretoria, South Africa, but had parted when their parents emigrated to Ireland and Crawley respectively.

Crawley Coroner's Court heard that Miss Gold, who had also suffered depression after she left South Africa, had tried to kill herself with a paracetamol overdose just ten days before she was found in the gas-filled car.

She had spoken to friends of killing herself by carbon monoxide poisoning.

David Kimp, deputy coroner for West Sussex, said he had no doubt that the girls had intended to kill themselves together.

He said: "I think it's tragic for the families that two young ladies with everything, so much potential, found there were no answers for them in this life apart from taking their lives."

The coroner recorded suicide verdicts for both girls.