Mother from Cornwall took her life after son's death

The death of a Newquay man in a motorcycle accident last summer was the "tipping point" that led his mother to take her own life, an inquest heard.

Patricia Gibbs was heart-broken when son James Ellis died, aged 33, while riding along the A3058 near Summercourt on June 7, 2011.

He was the last of her three children to die, after the deaths of Tracy Jane in 1987 and Catherine Mary in 1995. Catherine, 30, was the victim of a road accident and Tracy, 24, also died in tragic circumstances. Mrs Gibbs, 67, from Bugle, also lost her first husband in a boating accident and a subsequent partner to a heart attack.

After James' death she told a local newspaper: "You don't expect to lose your children before yourself, and it never gets any easier. James was my only one and now he's gone I just feel so alone. I would happily have given up my life to spare him."

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Mrs Gibbs was found dead at her cottage in Menorca Lane, Bugle, on April 2, this year.

Tributes were paid to her at Truro Coroner's Court where she was described as a "bubbly" woman who "lived for her family."

Her husband of eight years, Leslie Gibbs, a 59-year-old engineer, told the court that although she was "usually quite bubbly," he thought the death of her son was a "tipping point."

After the inquest, he said: "Her hobby was her family. She was a lovely person, I couldn't have wished for any better." Her grandson Luke Hawken's wife Gemma wrote in a statement: "When Luke's mother died, Pat looked after him as her own."

She added: "She was really not that happy. Many sad things had happened in her lifetime."

But she said Mrs Gibbs would spend a lot of time playing with her great-grandson Harley. The pair bought Mrs Gibbs a dog called Buster after her son's death, which became a beloved companion.

The inquest heard how Mrs Gibbs had drunk cider and gin, unusual for her, before taking her own life in a bedroom which contained her mother's possessions and a photo of her son James.

Her husband returned home to find a note from his wife, and Buster locked in the utility room. The note said life was getting too difficult since the death of her children and she missed them.

The inquest heard Mrs Gibbs had suffered from depression and panic attacks after losing her children.