A troubled teenager staying at a residential school in Westbury died in similar horrific circumstances to her school friend when she was struck by a train, an inquest heard today.

Mary Stroman was killed while an inquest was being held into the death of 15-year-old Tallulah Wilson, who died at London's St Pancras station after also being hit by a train.

The 16-year-old, from Haringey, north London, was killed on the evening of January 15 this year when she was struck by a Portsmouth to Cardiff service near Westbury.

She was the youngest of five children of Scott Stroman, a renowned jazz musician, composer and conductor, who is one of the most prominent figures in London's jazz scene, and his wife Sue, a nurse.

The inquest heard that Mary and Tallulah, who died in October 2012, had both attended St Marylebone School and were classmates, playing in the orchestra together. Mary had also attended Tallulah's confirmation.

At the time of Mary's death she was a pupil at the Tumblewood Community School, a residential school for adolescent girls with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Mrs Stroman told the hearing in Salisbury how two days before her daughter died she told her that the inquest into Tallulah's death had started.

"I said to Mary it was a legal proceeding and coroners have some power and Mrs Wilson was very concerned about Tumblr and the websites Tallulah went on and she was trying to get some laws to be put in place," Mrs Stroman said.

Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner David Ridley asked Mrs Stroman whether Mary appeared upset about news of the inquest.

"She was matter of fact about it - it was almost an exchange of information," Mrs Stroman replied.

She said she also rang the school to tell them to keep an eye on Mary as she might be upset because of the inquest.

 

"Tallulah played on Mary's mind and if we were going through Kings Cross Mary would say 'This is where Tallulah died'," she said.

Mrs Stroman said that her daughter's decline in health had begun after she started feeling "unsafe" in her local community and was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

After several incidents of self-harming she was admitted on three occasions to The Priory, as well as the Simmons House psychiatric unit in London.

"Mary was quite secretive. I could never stop her from self-harming completely. Her self-harming was a release for her from her anxiety - it was a coping mechanism," Mrs Stroman said.

The inquest also heard that Mary would often claim to have been assaulted and also wrote a letter to a friend stating she had been raped.

The teenager, who as a keen musician played the viola and piano, was very private and did not share her worries because she was concerned about confidentiality.

Mrs Stroman told the hearing: "She couldn't take the final step to trust people with what happened. One time she said 'I am a whore, that's what I am mamma'.

"I don't think in my opinion Tumblewood did anything wrong, Mary just wouldn't let anyone in to talk to her about what had happened to her.

"I spoke to Mary for about 20 minutes on the day she died. On the previous Monday I did tell her about the inquest into Tallulah had begun. Mary didn't say much about it and she sounded okay to me.

"She was quite chirpy, slightly uncharacteristically chirpy. She said she had been up to school and she was just starting her programme with the horses and she was looking forward to it."

Dr John Eastgate, a consultant psychiatrist at Tumblewood, said he had no evidence to support Mary's claims that she had been the victim of sexual abuse.

"The most probable scenario in my experience is there would have been some form of real abuse," he said.

"In post-traumatic stress disorder people end up with nightmare situations which are very difficult to distinguish from reality.

"It was not surprising to hear that she made some erroneous allegations which are not unusual in youngsters that have PTSD in this severity."

Karen Briddon, a project care worker at the school, said on the night of the tragedy Mary had unusually left a note on her bedroom door saying "gone out".

When Mrs Briddon went inside her room she discovered two notes, one addressed to her family and the other to a friend at the school, and raised the alarm with senior staff.

The inquest was adjourned until tomorrow.