A DEVOTED mother-of-three killed herself at a Hampshire beauty spot because she feared she was a failure as a parent, an inquest heard.

Pauline Carpenter, 36, from Bishop's Waltham, died from burns and shock after setting light to herself in her parked car at Farley Mount Country Park, near Winchester.

An inquest in Winchester into her death was told how she had had difficulty looking after her young children on the first day alone with them in the Easter holidays.

Richard Carpenter, her husband of 11 years, returned to their home in Winchester Road on Monday, April 9, to find the three youngsters, aged eight, six and two.

Mrs Carpenter said she had to go off to be by herself for a couple of hours and the children sat down to write letters of apology to her. But at 7.30pm she was found in her car by a passer-by at the country park.

The hearing heard how Mrs Carpenter had been a caring parent and a loving wife but lacked confidence.

Almost 12 years earlier she had taken an overdose of paracetamol following a road traffic accident.

Mr Carpenter said of her self-doubt: "I kept saying to her how good she was. I tried to convince her that she was. She would say to me that she had done nothing but shout at the children all day."

After her death, police found a handwritten note in Mrs Carpenter's rucksack that began "I am a stupid, stupid woman".

Recording a verdict of suicide, assistant coroner Simon Burge said: "She felt she was a failure and that the family would be better off without her. That was the clear message of the note.

"This was a deliberate act by Pauline Carpenter, but one which was not premeditated. It was an impulsive gesture."

Mr Carpenter declined to comment after the hearing but Det Con Frances Payne, who investigated the incident, said: "This is a tragic loss that has left three children without their mother."