An open verdict has been recorded in the case of a Penryn mother-of-two who went missing five years ago.

Wendy Pollard was 44 when she disappeared in April 2008, after leaving her car at Gunwalloe, near Helston.

Assistant coroner Andrew Cox said while both her family, represented at the inquest by her son Ashley Fuller, and the police believe Ms Pollard took her own life, in the absence of a body he could only record an open verdict.

Mr Fuller, a police community support officer in Falmouth, told the inquest that in the months leading up to her disappearance Ms Pollard had started going missing.

The first time, on December 31 2007, she had overdosed on sleeping tablets, and on another occasion had been found at the site of her mother’s grave after self-harming.

She had talked to her son about killing herself, and she took an overdose in her car he found a note.

He said: “When she did it in her car and took tablets, the note she left said she didn;t want to be around anymore.”

Detective Inspector Ben Beckerleg told the inquest that after Mrs Pollard’s final disappearance, on April 19 2008, a suicide note was found in the abandoned car, and six others were found when police searched her home.

When Mr Fuller was shown these notes at the time, he said some were familiar to him, and he had not seen others, but the handwriting was identified as his mother’s.

Detective Inspector Beckerleg said that police had tried several times to locate Mrs Pollard or ascertain whether she was alive using checks on her bank accounts and |property movements, as well as |following leads from possible sightings.

He said: “Having considered all the evidence, Mrs Pollard did commit suicide and regrettably we have been unable to recover her body.”

He added while it was possible her body had been lost at sea, it was also possible on evidence of a previous |incident that she had hidden herself in some undergrowth.

Mr Cox said: “I think it’s the view of both witnesses that Mrs Pollard took her own life.

“I think it’s likely that she took her own life, but in the absence of a body I can’t be sure.”

Following the verdict, Mr Fuller said: “I always knew it was going to be this way. It came as no shock.”