A teenage girl who came to Britain from Poland was found hanged in her school toilets after being tormented by racist bullies, an inquest heard yesterday (mon).

Tragic Dagmara Przybysz, 16, who moved to this country with her family nine years ago, was discovered dead in a cubicle in the maths department last May.

Dagmara was described as a beautiful, happy and popular pupil who had an extremely bright future.

But an inquest heard she had confided to friends and family that she had been singled out because of her nationality by a cruel gang of bullies.

A coroner heard bullies at Pool Academy, Redruth, Cornwall, called her a 'stupid Pole' and told she 'did not belong here.'

The alarm was raised when Dagmara failed to turn up for a lesson on May 17 and - although police and paramedics attended the scene - she could not be saved.

A post mortem found she died as a result of hanging and no drugs or alcohol were in her system.

Her death came as a complete shock to teachers, family and friends who said there was nothing to suggest she was about to take her own life.

But her mother Ewelina Przybysz told the first day of the inquest in Truro, Cornwall, how Dagmara often confided with her about the problems she was having at school.

Mrs Przybysz, of Truro, made reference to a post her daughter wrote on the controversial website Ask.fm, which has been linked previously with suicides of young people.

She said: "She wrote on Ask.fm in answer to a question about what problems she had at school. Dagamra wrote 'racism'.

"She commented she did not like it when someone was nasty behind her back.

"She often talked about problems and she was often hurt when people said unpleasant things."

Mrs Przybysz said there was one particular gang of girls that were causing her daughter problems.

She added: "These girls came up to Dagmara and accused her of saying unpleasant things and then called Dagmara names.

"I did not know what they said on this occasion but it was just a few days before Dagmara passed away. She was barged into in the school corridor.

"That may have been ones being nasty to her. I do not know who these girls were.

"I do not know if these were racist in nature she told me she would have comments such as 'stupid Pole'.

"Comments were made towards another Polish child and Dagmara would always try to stand up to them."

The inquest also heard about an incident at a PE lesson the day before Dagmara died that had left her very upset.

She fell out with fellow pupils during a rounders game and needed medical treatment after punching the wall in frustration.

Her mother added: "She punched a wall so she could get away from these girls and the school."

A school friend, who can not be named for legal reasons, also told the inquest Dagmara had been targetted by racist bullies.

She said: "I used to sit next to her in class. She told me when year 10 girls said she 'did not belong here' in reference to the fact she was from another country.

"I told her to report this and I only know about this from what she told me."

The day before she died Dagmara had gone to the grandmother of her boyfriend's home and was upset about the incident during PE.

She returned there the next morning and said she was confused and felt she had taken an overdose of alcohol and tablets, which turned out not to be true.

Her father Jedrzej Przybysz said that on the morning of her death he got a phone call from his daughter where she was crying and very upset.

Her dad said: "She was upset and crying and did not want to tell me the reason.

"Later on she said she had problems at school that she said I would not understand.

"I told her to go to school and on return we would have a serious conversation about this problem."

Mr Przybysz said his daughter had made many friends at primary school since coming to the UK in February 2009 but had not settled at secondary school and asked to move.

Dagmara's uncle Tomasz Dobek took her to hospital after she had hurt her hand in the PE lesson the day before she died.

He added: "We saw two girls on the pavement and Dagmara said 'uncle, can you run them over'.

"She told me she had hurt her hand while punching the wall as she some girls had laughed at her because she could not play the game properly."

The inquest heard how Dagmara was a bright student who wanted to go on to study photography at Truro College and her death had come as a complete shock to everyone who knew her.

Dagmara's boyfriend Lewis Simpson said he first met her in primary school when she was seven or eight and they started a relationship just eight days before she died.

He told the inquest: "We started dating again and I saw her every day and we talked about future plans to be together.

"I am very shocked at her death.

"When I saw her on Monday (May 16) she was agitated at what happened in PE. She said 'what would you do if I killed myself?'

"I did not take it seriously as I thought was just worked up by hurting her hand."

Lewis said that there were false rumours on social media that evening they were going to split up.

He added: "This was not true and were were very angry about it. She said she was so angry she wanted to jump off a bridge.

"She did not confide loads - she said about the racism - that's it."

Lewis said Dagmara was normally happy but her mood was different the day before she died.

He said: "All of a sudden it changed. There was nothing I could link to that change."

Susan Kent, in charge of pastoral support at Pool Academy, said she had seen Dagmara on several occasions including on the day before her death

She added: "There is nothing that made me think she was at risk.

"To the best of my knowledge she never mentioned any problems of racism to me."

Dagmara's body lay undiscovered in the school toilets for more than an hour and a half, according to CCTV records.
That included a check by one teacher who went into the toilets and found a closed cubicle but did not 'hear or see anything out of place'.
The teenager was filmed leaving a maths lesson and going into the girl's loo at 12.14pm.
Footage reviewed by the police shows several other girls coming and going from the toilets during the busy lunchtime period.
But Dagmara's body was not discovered until 1.50pm - despite teachers going into the toilets to check if there were any problems after hearing a commotion.
The exit was sealed off to students by 1.50pm and paramedics arrived at 2.09pm.
Police arrived two minutes later.
Lorna Gibbon, a care supervisor at Pool Academy said she went to check the toilets at 12.45pm after hearing a "banging and rattling noise."
She said: "It went on for about two to three minutes. I could not tell if it was coming from the boys or girls side.
"After I went to check and I could see the far end cubicle was shut. I could not hear anything or see anything out of place.
"I was in the toilets for about 30 seconds and did not see or hear anything.
"A short while later I heard on the school radio an ambulance had been requested to the maths area."
Dagmara's dad Jedrzej Przybysz said he could not understand why it took so long for his daughter to be found.
He said: "I can not understand why it took the school 90 minutes to find her. A teacher went two times to the same toilet but did not go inside."
Coroner Dr Emma Carlyon said his concerns would be addressed during evidence later in the inquest.

The inquest, expected to last three days, continues.