An inquest into the death of Lynsey Pow has revealed the Waterloo Road and Doctors actress was struggling with drug and gambling problems. Pow's body was discovered on 28th November 2013, she was aged just 34.

Pow's body was discovered last year by her husband after he received a phone call from his wife in which she reportedly apologised for racking up debts. Her husband returned home to their flat in South East London but discovered his wife hanging and surrounded by drug paraphernalia, as the Mail reports. 

An inquest, conducted at Southwark Coroner's Court, gave Pow's cause of death as a 'drug related self-harm death'.  The coroner was unwilling to state the cause of death as suicide as there were illegal drugs present in Pow's system at the time of her death. The coroner believed Pow, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, may not have planned to kill herself.

On this matter, the coroner said Pow 'appeared to have obtained some cocaine and while under the influence of cocaine she appeared to hang herself. It is likely to have influenced her mind so it cannot be said that she intended to die. I am recording this as a drug-related self-harm death.'

The actress, who appeared in Secret Diary of a Call Girl, had reportedly accumulated gambling debts and had turned to daily cocaine use before her death. She had been to a GP a couple of months before her death and he had prescribed medication and psychiatric treatment. A mere month before her death Pow appeared to improve and told the GP in question, as the Evening Standard reports, that she felt like a 'different person'. 

Pow's father issued a statement in which he lamented how Pow could have received treatment and emphasised the tragic nature of her death. Her father said 'The tragedy is that she could have been saved. We did everything we could when we found out about the drugs. Lynsey touched so many lives. There were 1,400 people at her memorial service. The only thing that has helped is that it has brought our family even closer together.'