A coroner has criticised a mental health unit in Winchester for failing to prevent a teenage patient killing herself.

Ainslie Jones took her own life in June this year after tying a pair of trousers around her neck, securing it to a towel rail and hanging herself.

The 18-year-old had tried the same act the day before with a scarf, but had been stopped at the last moment by nursing staff at the Melbury Lodge unit, next to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital.

Ainslie told them she had frightened herself and had not meant to actually kill herself and, for that reason, it was decided that she did not need to be placed under full observation.

But, the next evening, after asking for her scarf back, she locked herself in a bathroom and took her own life.

Ainslie, whose family live in Toulouse, in France, had been attending Peter Symonds' College but was sectioned under the Mental Health Act last year after displaying traits of a borderline personality disorder and depression.

Coroner, Grahame Short, said that while it was clear that she had hanged herself, he would not record a verdict of suicide because he couldn't be sure she knew what she was doing and had intended to die.

He said that, given her history of self-harm, it was possible Ainslie had assumed someone would come and intervene in what she was doing before she went too far, as staff had done on many occasions before.

Recording an open verdict, he said the care she had received at the unit had been appropriate, but added: "I do believe there was a failure to identify and rectify the risk of patients locking themselves in the bathroom that Ainslie used, which couldn't be easily observed nor opened quickly in the event of an emergency."

Speaking after the hearing, Ainslie's stepfather said he was happy with the procedure and the verdict.

"The important thing is to understand why the death has happened and that if changes are needed then it's important that they are made.

"From what I've heard so far, those changes have now been made.

"Ainslie had many good times in her life and had many friends - and those are the things that we, her family, will remember."