A MOTHER-of-three killed herself after a long-term relationship ended.

Michelle Colclough, 38, took an overdose, an inquest in Winchester heard.

It came after she separated from her long-term partner, David Nichols, in 2007.

He told the inquest that they met while both serving in the Royal Navy in the early 1990s. They later settled in Mallard Gardens, Hedge End.

They raised three children, but separated after Ms Colclough started seeing another man, he said.

Mr Nichols said his former partner moved to a house in nearby Wilkins Road and they shared the childcare duties.

He added that her new relationship did not last, and she then became upset when he started seeing another woman.

He said: "For the last three or four years, she (Michelle) was very up and down. She was very hot and cold and you didn't know where you stood with her."

Ms Colclough was being treated for depression, but Mr Nichols said she never talked about killing herself.

However, he raised the alarm on June 28 this year when he went to call on her house, and there was no reply.

Police attended the scene and her body was found in the main bedroom. She was alone, and officers did not treat the death as suspicious, the inquest heard.

Deputy central Hampshire coroner, Simon Burge, said there was no suicide note, which suggested that she took the overdose "on the spur of the moment".

As a result, he recorded a verdict that Ms Colclough took her life while the balance of her mind was disturbed.