A 17-year-old battling depression drank herself to death just nine months after her mother died from breast cancer, an inquest heard.

Zoe Meliniotis was found dead by her boyfriend and sister at home in Morden with an empty bottle of brandy by her bedside.

But according to coroner Dr Paul Knapman, there was no evidence to suggest the Kingston College student had intended to take her own life.

Instead at Westminster Coroner’s Court on Thursday, her family and friends heard how she died of alcohol poisoning while four and a half times over the legal driving limit.

Dr Knapman said: “What a tragedy. I think it was likely Zoe was fed up and had been drinking, then continued to drink. But I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt she did not intend to drink herself to death.

“If so, this would be suicide yet there is nothing approaching the level of evidence to suggest this is the case.”

Miss Meliniotis’s boyfriend and sister forced entry into the family home in Cardinal Avenue, and found her body at 4pm on February 12 - a day after her death.

No suicide note was found and although she had visited her GP suffering from depression, Dr Knapman said this was no more serious than could have been expected given the circumstances, and there was no mention of her having been suicidal.

The court heard how she was extremely close to her mother and found it difficult to carry on with life as normal after her death.

She was determined to carry on living in the family home and had recently left St Philomena’s Roman Catholic High School for Girls in Carshalton to study music and drama at Kingston College.

Giving the cause of death as alcohol toxicity, Dr Knapman said: “This is a case of misadventure and of course the sympathy of the court goes to the family and friends of this girl who has died at the age of just 17.”